

library of congress. 


I UNITED STATES OF 4AJMICA. 































































































































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I 
















/■j 

Seed-time and Harvest; 


OR, 


“ DURING MY APPRENTICESHIP.” 



PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
i 8 7 i. 


Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by 
LITTELL & GAY., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 


Lipfincott's Press. 

Philadelphia . 


Seed-time and Harvest; 

OR, 

“DURING MY APPRENTICESHIP.” 


CHAPTER I. 

In the year 1829, on St. John’s day, a 
man sat in the deepest melancholy, under 
an ash-tree arbor, in a neglected garden. 
The estate, to which the garden belonged, 
was a lease-hold estate, and lay on the 
river Peene, between Anclam and Demmin, 
and the man, who sat in the cool shade of 
the arbor, was the lease-holder, — that is 
to say, he had been until now ; for now 
he was ejected, and there was an auction 
to-day in his homestead, and all his goods 
and possessions were going to the four 
winds. 

He was a large, broad-shouldered, light- 
haired man, of four and forty years ; and 
nowhere could you find a better specimen 
of what labor could make of a man than 
she had carved from this block. “ Labor,” 
said his honest face, — “Labor,” said his 
firm hands which lay quiet in his lap, 
folded one upon another as if for pray- 
ing. 

Yes, for praying ! And in the whole 
broad country of Pomerania, there might 
well have been no one with greater need 
and reason to speak with his Lord God, 
than this man. ’Tis a hard thing for any 
one to see his household goods, which he 
has gathered with labor and pains, piece 
by piece, go wandering out into the world. 
’Tis a hard thing for a farmer to leave the 
cattle, which he has fed and cared for, 
through want and trouble, to other hands 
that know nothing of the difficulties which 
have oppressed him all his life. But it was 
not this which lay so heavy on his heart ; 
it was a still deeper grief which caused 
the weary hands to lie folded together, and 
the weary eyes to droop so heavily. 

Since yesterday he was a widow< r, his 
wife lay upon her last couch. His wife 1 


Ten years had he striven for her, ten years 
had he worked and toiled, and done what 
human strength coaid do that they might 
come together, that he might make room 
for the deep, powerful love which sung 
through his whole being, like Pentecost 
bells over green fields and blossoming 
fruit-trees. 

Four years ago he had made it possible ; 
he had scraped together everything that 
he had ; an acquaintance who had inherited 
from his parents two estates had leased 
one of them to him, — at a high rent, very 
high — no one knew that better than him- 
self, — but love gives courage, cheerful 
courage, to sustain one through every- 
thing. Oh, it would have gone well, quite 
well, if misfortunes had not come upon 
them, if his dear little wife had not risen 
before the daylight and ere the dew was 
risen, and got such feverish red spots on 
her cheeks. Oh, all would have gone well, 
quite well, if his landlord had been not 
merely an acquaintance but a friend — he 
was not the latter ; to-day he allowed his 
agent to hold the auction. 

Friends? Such a man as the one who 
sat under the ashen arbor, has he no friends? 
Ah, he had friends, and their friendship 
was true ; but they could not help him, 
they had nothing either to give or to lend. 
Wherever he looked, there seemed a 
gloomy wall before his eyes, which nar- 
rowed around him, and pressed him in, 
until he must needs call upon the Lord to 
deliver him out of his distresses. And 
over him in the ashen twigs sang the 
finches, and their gay plumage glittered 
in the sun, and the flowers in the neglected 
garden gave out their fragrance, all in 
vain, — and the fairest bridal pair in the 
world might have sat there, and never 
have forgotten either the place or the day 


4 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


And had he not often sat under these 
shade trees with a soft hand in his hard 
one ? Had not the birds sung, had not the 
flowers been fragrant ? Had he not under 
the ash-trees dreamed of their cool shade 
for his old age ? And who was it that had 
brought to him here a refreshing drink 
after a hot day’s labor? Who was it 
that had shared in and consoled all his 
cares and sorrows ? 

It was gone — all gone ! — Here was 
care and trouble about the auction, and 
the soft, warm hand was cold and stiff. 
And so it is much the same to a man as if 
the birds sang no longer, and the flowers 
had lost their fragrance, and the blessed 
sun shone for him no more; and if the 
poor heart keeps on beating it reaches out, 
beyond birds and flowers and beyond the 
golden sun, higher up after a Comforter, 
in whose presence these earthly joys shall 
fade and fall, but before whom the human 
soul shall stand forever. 

So sat Habermann before his God, and 
his hands were folded, and his honest blue 
eyes bent to the ground, and yet there 
shone in them a clear light, as from God’s 
sun. Then came a little maiden running 
to him, and laid a marigold blossom on his 
lap, and the two hands unfolded them- 
selves and clasped the child, — it was his 
child, — and he rose up from the bench, 
and took her on his arm, and from his 
eyes fell tear after tear, and he kept the 
marigold flower in his hand, and went with 
the child along the path through the gar- 
den. 

He came to a young tree which he had 
planted himself ; the straw-rope with which 
it was bound to its prop had loosened, 
and the tree was sagging downwards. 
He reached up and bound it fast, without 
thinking what he was doing, for his 
thoughts were far away, but care and 
helping were part of his nature. 

But when a man’s thoughts are in the 
clouds, were it even in the blue heavens, 
if his daily duties come before his eyes, — 
the old accustomed handiwork, — and he 
does them, he helps himself in so doing, 
for they call him back from the distance 
and show him what is near by, and what 
is in need of help. And it is one of our 
Lord’s mercies that this is so. 

He walked up and down the garden, 
and his eyes saw what was around him, 
and his thoughts came back to earth ; and 
though the black, gloomy clouds still over- 
spread the heaven of his future, they could 
not conceal one little patch of blue sky, — 
that was the little girl whom he bore on 
his arm, and whose baby hand played with 


his hair. He had thought over his situa 
tion, steadily and earnestly he had looked 
the black clouds in the face ; he must take 
care that he and his little one were not 
overpowered by the storm. 

He went from the garden toward the 
house. Good Heavens, how his courage 
sank ! Indifferent to him, and absorbed 
in their petty affairs, a crowd of men 
pressed around the table where the 
actuary was holding the auction. Piece 
by piece the furniture acquired by his 
years of industry was knocked down to the 
highest bidder ; piece by piece his house- 
hold gear had come into the house, with 
trouble and anxiety; piece by piece it 
went out to the world, amid jokes and 
laughter. This sideboard had been liis 
old mother’s, this chest of drawers his 
wife had brought with her, that little 
work-table he had given her while she was 
yet a bride. Near by stood his cattle, tied 
to a rack, and lowing after their pasture ; 
the brown yearling which his poor wife 
herself had brought up, her special pet, 
stood among them ; he went round to her, 
and stroked her with his hand. 

“ Herr,” said the bailiff Niemann, “’tis a 
sad pity” 

“ Yes, Niemann, ’tis a pify ; but there’s no 
help for it,” said he, and turned away, 
and went toward the men who were 
crowding around the auctioneer’s table. 

As the people noticed him, they made 
room for him in a courteous and friendly 
manner, and he turned to the auctioneer 
as if he would speak a few words to him. 

“ Directly, Herr Habermann,” said the 
man, “in a moment. I am just through 
with the house-inventory, then — A chest 
of drawers ! Two thalers, four shillings 1 
Six shillings ! Two thalers eight shillings ! 
Once 1 Twice ! Two thalers twelve shill- 
ings ! No more ? Once ! Twice ! and — 
thrice ! Who has it ? ” 

“ Brandt, the tailor,” was the answer. 

Just at this moment, a company of coun- 
try people came riding up the yard, who 
apparently wished to look at the cattle, 
which came next in order in the sale. 
Foremost rode a stout, red-faced man, upon 
whose broad features arrogance had 
plenty of room to display itself. This 
quality was very strongly marked ; but 
an unusual accompaniment was indicated 
by the little, crafty eyes, which peered out 
over the coarse cheeks, as if to say, “ You 
are pretty well off, but we have something 
to do to look after your interests.” The 
owner of these eyes was the owner also of 
the estate of which Habermann had held 
the lease ; he rode close up to the cluster 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


D 


of men, and, as he saw his unhappy tenant 
standing among them, the possibility oc- 
curred to him that he might fail of receiv- 
ing his full rent, and the crafty eyes, 
which understood so well how to look 
after their own interests, said to the ar- 
rogance which sat upon mouth and mien, 
44 Brother, now is a good time to spread 
yourself ; it will cost you nothing ; ” and 
ressing his horse nearer to Habermann 
e called, so that all the people must hear, 
“Yes, here is your prudent Mecklenburger, 
who will teach us how to manage a farm I 
"What has he taught us ? To drink wine 
and shuffle cards he might teach us, but 
farming — Bankruptcy, he can teach us!” 

All were silent at these hard woids, and 
looked first at him who had uttered them, 
and then at him against whom they were 
directed. Habermann was at first struck, 
by voice and words together, as if a knife 
had been plunged into his heart ; now he 
stood still and looked silently before him, 
letting all go over his head ; but among 
the people broke out a murmuring — 
“ Fie ! Fie ! For shame ! The man is no 
drinker nor card-player. He has worked 
his farm like a good fellow ! ” 

“ What great donkey is this, who can talk 
like that ? ” asked old Farmer Drenkhahn, 
from Liepen, and pressed nearer with his 
buckthorn staff. 

“ That’s the fellow, father,” called out 
Stolper the smith, “ who lets his people go 
begging about, for miles around.” 

“ They haven’t a coat to their backs,” 
said tailor Brandt, of Jarmen, “ and by all 
their labour they can only earn victuals.” 

44 Yes,” laughed the smith, 44 that’s the 
fellow who is so kind to his people that 
they all have nice dress-coats to work in, 
while he does not keep enough to buy him- 
self a smock-frock.” 

The auctioneer had sprung up and ran 
towards the landlord, who had heard these 
remarks with unabashed thick-headedness. 
“In God’s name, Herr Pomuchelskopp, 
how can you talk so V ” 

44 Yes,” said one of his own company, who 
rode up with him, 44 these folks are right. 
Y r ou should be ashamed of yourself I The 
poor man has given up everything that he 
had a right to keep, and goes out into the 
world to-morrow, empty-handed, and you 
go on abusing him.” 

“Ah, indeed,” said the auctioneer, “if 
that were all 1 But his wife died only yes- 
terday, and lies on her last couch, and there 
he is with his poor little child, and what 
prospect has the poor man for the future ? ” 

The murmur went round among the 
people of the landlord’s company, and it 


was not long before he had the place to 
himself ; those who came with him had rid- 
den aside. “Did I know that?” said he 
peevishly, and rode out of the yard ; and 
the little, crafty eyes said to the broad 
arrogance, 44 Brother, this time we went 
rather too far.” 

The auctioneer turned to Habermann. 
“ Herr Habermann, you had something 
to say to me?” 

44 Yes — yes — ” replied the farmer, like a 
man who has been under torture, coming 
again to his senses. 44 Yes, I was going to 
ask you to put up to auction the few 
things I have a right to keep back, — the 
bed and the other things.” 

44 Willingly ; but the household furni- 
ture has sold badly, the people have no 
money, and if you wish to dispose of any- 
thing you would do better at private sale.” 

44 1 Lave not time for that, and I need 
the money. ” 

44 Then if you wish it, I will offer the 
goods at auction,” and the man went back 
to his business. 

“Habermann,” said Farmer Grot, who 
came with the company on horseback, 
44 you are so lonely here, in your misfor- 
tunes ; come home with me, you and your 
little girl, and stay awhile with us, my 
wife will be right glad ” 

44 1 thank you much for the good will ; 
but I cannot go, I have still something to 
do here.” 

44 Habermann,” said farmer Hartmann, 
44 you mean the funeral of your good wife. 
When do you bury herV We will all 
come together, to do her this last honor.” 

44 For that I thank you too ; but I cannot 
receive you as would be proper, and by 
this time I have learned that one must cut 
his coat according to his cloth.” 

44 Old friend, my dear old neighbor and 
countryman,” said Inspector Wienk, and 
clapped him on the shoulder, 44 do not yield 
to discouragement 1 things will go better 
with you yet.” 

44 Discouragement, Wienk ? ” said Haber- 
mann, earnestly, pressing his child closer 
to himself, and looking steadily at the in- 
spector, with his honest blue eyes. 44 Is that 
discouragement, to look one’s future stead- 
ily in the face, and do one’s utmost to avert 
misfortune ? But I cannot stay here ; a 
man avoids the place where he has once 
made shipwreck. I must go to some house 
at a distance, and begin again at the be- 
ginning. I must work for my bread again, 
and stretch my feet under a stranger’s 
table. And now good-bye to you all ! You 
have always been good neighbors and 
friends to me. Adieu 1 Adieu ! Give me 


G 


SEED-TIME AND HAKVEST. 


your hand. Wieak, — Adieu! and greet 
them all kindly at your house ; my wife 

’ He had still something to say, but 

he seemed to be overcome, and turned 
almost quickly and went his way. 

“ Niemann, ’’said he to his bailiff, as he 
came to the other end of the farm-yard, 
“ Tell the other people, to-morrow morn- 
ing early, at four o’clock, I will bury my 
wife.” With that, he went into the house, 
into his sleeping-room. It was all cleaned 
out, his bed and all the furniture which 
had been left to him ; nothing remained 
but four bare walls. Only in a dark cor- 
ner stood an old chest, and on it sat a 
young woman, the wife of a day-laborer, 
her eyes red with weeping; and in the 
middle of the room stood a black coffin in 
which lay a white, still, solemn face, and 
the woman had a green branch in her 
hand, and brushed the flies from the still 
face. 

“Stina,” said Habermann, “go home 
now ; I will stay here.” 

“ Oh, Herr, let me stay ! ” 

“No, Stina, I shall stay here all night.” 

“ Shall I not take the little one with 
me ? ” 

“ No, leave her, she will sleep well.” 

The young woman went out : the auc- 
tioneer came and handed him the money 
which he had received for his goods, the 
people went away from the court-yard ; 
it became as quiet out of doors as in. He 
put the child down, and reckoned the 
money on the window-seat. “ That pays 
the cabinet-maker for the coffin ; that 
for the cross at the grave ; that for the 
funeral. Stina shall have this, and with 
the rest I can go to my sister.” The even- 
ing came, the young wife of the laborer 
brought in a lighted candle, and set it on 
the coffin, and gazed long at the white face, 
then dried her eyes and said “ Good- 
night,” and Habermann was again alone 
with his child. 

He raised the window, and looked out 
into the night. It was dark for that time 
of year, no stars shone in the sky, all 
was obscured with black clouds, and a 
warm, damp air breathed on his face, and 
sighed in the distance. From over the 
fields came the note of the quail, and the 
land-rail uttered its rain-call, and softly 
fell the first drops on the dusty ground, 
and his heart rose in thanks for the gift 
of sweetest savor known to the husband- 
man, the earth-vapor in which hover all 
blessings for his cares and labor. How 
often had it refreshed his soul, chased 
away his anxieties, and renewed his hope 
of a good year ! Now he was set loose 


from care, but also from joy; a great joy 
had gone from him, and had taken with it 
all lesser ones. 

He closed the window, and, as he turned 
round, there stood his little daughter by 
the coffin, reaching vainly toward the still 
face, as if she would stroke it. He raised 
the child higher so that she could reach, 
and the little girl stroked and kissed the 
cold, dead cheek of her silent mother, and 
looked then at her father with her great 
eyes, as if she would ask something un- 
speakable, and said “ Mother ! Oh ! ” 

“Yes,” said Habermann, “mother is 
cold,” and the tears started in his eyes, and 
he sat down on the chest, took his daughter 
on his lap, and wept bitterly. The little 
one began to weep also, and cried herself 
quietly to sleep. He laid her softly 
against his breast, and wrapped his coat 
warmly about her, and so sat he the night 
through, and held true lyke-wake over his 
wife and his happiness. 

Next morning, punctually, at four o’clock, 
came the bailiff with the other laborers. 
The coffin was screwed up ; the procession 
moved slowly toward the church-yard ; the 
only mourners himself and his little girl. 
The coffin was lowered into the grave. A 
silent Pater Noster, — a handful of earth, 
— .and the image of her who had for years 
refreshed and comforted him, rejoiced and 
enlivened, was concealed from his eyes, 
and if he would see it again he must turn 
over his heart like a book, leaf by leaf, 
until he comes to the closing page, and 
then, — yes, there will the dear image 
stand, fair and lovely before his eyes once 
more. 

He went among his people, shook hands 
with every one, and thanked them for this 
last service which they had rendered him, 
and then said “ Good-bye ” to them, gave 
to the bailiff the money for the coffin, cross 
and funeral, and then, absorbed in thought, 
started on his lonely way out into the 
gloomy future. 

As he came to the last house in the little 
hamlet, the young laborer’s wife stood with 
a child on her arm before the door. He 
stepped up to her. 

“ Stina, you took faithful care of my poor 
wife in her last sickness, — here, Stina,” 
and would press a couple of dollars into 
her hand. 

“Herr, Herr,” cried the young wife, 
“ don’t do me that injury ! What have 
you not done for us in good days ? Why 
should we not in hard times make some 
little return ? Ah, Herr, I have one favor 
to ask ; leave the child here with me ! I 
will cherish it as if it were my own. And 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


is it not like my own ? I have nursed it at 
my breast, when your poor wife was so 
weak. Leave me the child I ” 

Habermann stood in deep thought. 
“ Herr,” said the woman, “ you will have 
to separate from the poor little thing, sooner 
or later. See, here comes Jochen, he will 
speak for himself.” 

The laborer came up, and, as he heard of 
what they were speaking, said, “ Yes, Herr, 
she shall be cared for like a princess, and 
we are healthy, and well to do, and what 
you have done for us, we will richly repav 
to her.” 

“No,” said Habermann, lifting himself 
from his thoughts, “that won’t go, I can’t 
do it. I may be wrong to take the child 
with me upon an uncertainty ; but I have 
left so much here, this last thing I cannot 
give up. No, no ! I can’t do it,” cried he 
hastily and turned himself to go, “ my child 
must be where I am. Adieu, Stina ! Adieu, 
Rassow ! ” 

“If you will not leave us the child, 
Herr,” said the laborer, “ let me at least 
go with you a little way, and carry her for 
you.” 

“ No, No ! ” said Habermann, “ she is 
no burden for me ; ” but he could not hin- 
der the young woman from stroking and 
kissing his little daughter, and ever again 
kissing her, nor that both these honest 
souls, as he went on his way, should stand 
long looking after him. She, with tears in 
her eyes, thought more of the child, he, in 
serious reflection, more of the man. 

“ Stina,” said he, “ we shall never again 
have such a master.” 

“The Lord knows that,” said she, and 
both went sadly back to their daily labor. 

CHAPTER II. 

About eight miles from the place where 
Habermann had left his wife in her quiet 
grave, lay in Mecklenburg a farm of less 
than medium size, which was tenanted by 
his brother-in-law, Jochen Niissler. The 
farm-buildings had never been very sub- 
stantial, and were now much in need of re- 
air, and moreover things were very disor- 
erly ; here a little refuse heap, and there 
another, and the wagon and farm imple- 
ments stood here and there, and mingled 
together, like the people at a fair, and the 
cart said to the wagon, “Brother, how 
came you here?” and the rake laid hold 
of the harrow and said, “ Come, dear, we 
will have a dance.” But the music was 
lacking, for it was all still in the farm-yard, 
quite still. This lovely weather, all were 
in the meadow, haying, and even from the I 


7 

little open windows of the long, low, straw- 
roofed farm-house came no sound, for it 
was afternoon ; the cook had finished her 
baking, and the housemaid her cleaning, 
and both had gone together to the meadow ; 
and even the farmer’s wife, who usually 
had something to say for herself, was no- 
where visible, for she also had gone from 
the farm-yard with a rake in her hand; 
the hay must all be gathered into great 
stacks before night-fall. 

But there was yet life in the house, 
though of a little, quiet kind. In the room 
at the right of the porch, in the living- 
room, where the blue-painted corner-cup- 
board stood, — the schenJc, they called it, 
and the . sofa covered with black glazed 
linen, which was freshly polished up with 
boot-blacking every Saturday and the 
oaken chest of drawers with gilt ornaments, 
sat two little maidens of three years, with 
round flaxen heads, and round rosy cheeks, 
playing in a heap of sand, making cheeses 
with mother’s thimble, and filling the damp 
sand into two little shilling pots, which 
they turned upside down, laughing and 
rejoicing if the lump stood firm. 

These were Lining and Mining Nussler, 
and they looked, for all the world, like a 
pair of little twin apples, growing on one 
stem ; and they were so indeed, for they 
were twins, and one who did not know 
that Lining was not Mining, and Mining 
was not Lining, would be puzzled from 
morning to night, for their names were 
not written in their faces, and if their 
mother had not marked them with a col- 
ored band on the arm, there would have 
been grave doubts in the matter, and their 
father, Jochen Nussler, was even yet in 
some uncertainty; Lining was properly 
Mining, and Mining Lining, they had been 
as it were shaken up together at the out- 
set of their little lives. At present, there 
was no occasion for such perplexity, for 
the mother had tied a blue ribbon in Lin- 
ing’s little flaxen curls, and a red one in 
Mining’s; and if one kept that in mind, 
and observed them carefully, one would 
see plainly that Jochen Nussler was wrong, 
for Lining was half an hour older than 
Mining, and, slight as the difference was, 
the seniority made itself quite evident, for 
Lining took the lead in everything; but 
she comforted her little sister also, when 
she was in trouble. 

Besides this little, unmistakable pair of 
twins, there was yet another pair of twins 
in the room ; but an old, experienced, cir- 
cumspect couple, who looked down from 
the chest of drawers on the children, and 
shook their heads hither and thither, in 


8 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


cne light breeze which came in at the open 
window ; these were grandfather’s peruke, 
and grandmother’s state-cap, which were 
paraded on a pair of cap-stocks, and which 
to-morrow, — Sunday, — would play their 
part. 

“Look, Lining,” said Mining, “there 
is grandfather’s puk.” She could not get 
the ‘ r ’ quite right yet. 

“ You always say ‘ puk ; ’ you must say 
‘ p-u-k,’ said Lining, for she also was not 
quite up to the “ r ; ” but being the eldest 
she must needs direct her little sister in 
the right way. 

With that the little pair of twins got up 
and stood before the chest of drawers, and 
looked at the old pair of twins on the cap- 
stocks, and Mining, who was still very 
thoughtless, reached after the peruke 
stock, and took down grandfather’s peruke, 
turned it over on her head as seemed well 
to her, and, placing herself before the 
glass, performed just as grandfather did 
on Sundays. Now was the time for Lining 
to exercise her authority, but Lining began 
to laugh, and catching the joke took down 
grandmother’s cap from the other stock, 
and imitated grandmother’s Sunday per- 
formances, and then Mining laughed, and 
then both laughed, and then took hold of 
hands and danced “ Kringelkranz, Rosen- 
danz,” and let go, and laughed again and 
joined hands again and danced. 

But Mining was quite too thoughtless, 
she had the little pot still in her hand, and 
as they were in the midst of their fun — 
crash! she let it fall on the floor, and 
there was an end of the pot, and an end of 
the sport also. Now began Mining to cry 
and lament over her pot, and Lining cried 
with her, like a little echo ; but when that 
had lasted a while, Lining began to con- 
sole : — 

“ See here, Mining, the wheel-wright can 
mend it.” 

“ Yes,” said Mining, crying more quietly, 
“the wheel-wright can mend it;” and 
upon that the two little mourners started 
out of the door, quite forgetting that 
they had grandfather’s and grandmother’s 
sacred Sunday gear upon their heads. 

One may wonder that Lining should go 
to the wheel-wright with such an affair, 
but anybody who has known a regular 
wheel-wright in that region, will under- 
stand that such a man can do everything. 
If a sheep is sick, they say, “ Call the 
wheel-wright ! ” If a window-pane is 
broken, the wheel-wright must nail on a 
board to keep out wind and weather ; has 
an old chair dislocated its leg, he is the 
doctor ; if one wishes a plaster spread for 


a sick cow, he is the apothecary ; in short, 
he can mend everything, and so Lining 
showed herself a little maiden of good 
sense in going with her pot to the wheel- 
wright. 

As the little girls went through the yard, 
in at the gate came a little man, with a red 
face and a right stately red nose, which he 
carried in the air ; on his head he had a 
three-cornered cap, with a tassel in front 
of no particular color ; he wore a grey linen 
coat with long skirts, and his short legs, 
which turned outward as if they had been 
screwed into his long body the wrong way, 
were stuck into short blue-striped trow- 
sers, and long boots with yellow tops. He 
was not exactly stout, but certainly not 
lean, and one might see that he was begin- 
ning to grow a little pot-bellied. 

The little girls must meet him on their 
way, and as they came near enough for 
the Herr Inspector — for the man with the 
little legs held such a post — to perceive 
their approach, he stood still, and raised 
his yellow bushy eyebrows so high that 
they went quite up under the visor of his 
cap, as if these eyebrows, being the finest 
of his features, must first of all, under 
such dangerous circumstances, be placed 
in security. “ God bless us ! ” cried he, 
“ Where are you going ? What sort of 
doings are these ? What ! you have the 
entire Sunday finery of the two old people 
upon your heads ! ” The two little girls 
quite patiently allowed themselves to be 
despoiled of their finery, and showed the 
broken pieces of the pot, saying that the 
wheel-wright would mend it. “ What I ” 
said the Herr Inspector Brasig, for that 
was his name, “ Who in the world would 
have believed in such stupidity V Lining, 
you are the oldest, I thought you had 
more sense ; and Mining, don’t cry any 
more, you are my little god-child, I will 
give you a new pot at the next fair. But 
now, along with you ! into the house ! ” 

As he entered the living-room, and found 
no one there, he said to himself, “ To be 
sure 1 All are gone after the hay. Yes, I 
ought to be looking after my hay ; but the 
little madcaps have left these things in such 
a state, that they would be in sad disgrace if 
the two old grannies should see them as 
they are now ; I must try to repair damages 
a little.” With that he drew out a little 
pocket-comb, — which he kept by him be- 
cause he was growing bald, and must needs 
comb forward his back hair, — and began to 
labour at the peruke. That did very well ; 
but now came the cap. “ How the mis- 
chief, Lining, have you contrived to do it ? 
To make it look decently again is not a 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


9 


{ )Ossible thing! No, I must try to recol- 
ect how the old lady looks of a Sunday 
afternoon. In front she has a comely 
bunch of silken curls, and the front part 
of the old toggery hangs over about three 
inches, so the thing must be set forward 
more. On top she has nothing in particu- 
lar, her bald head always shines through ; 
but behind she always has a puff, which 
she stuffs out with a bunch of tow ; that 
the little girl has quite disarranged ; that 
must be pulled out better ; ” and with 
that he stuck his fist in the cap, and 
widened out the puff. 

But in the back part of the puff there 
was a drawing-string, and as he was doing 
his work thoroughly the cord broke, and 
the whole puff flew out. “ Now there, 
stupid ! ” cried he, and his eyebrows went 
up again. “ How ? This isn’t fastened 
worth a snap 1 With yarn ! And one 
can’t tie knots in it. God bless my soul ! 
What do I know about millinery? But 
hold on! We will fix you yet.” And 
with that he pulled from his pocket a hand- 
ful of strings — every good inspector must 
have such on hand — and began to disen- 
tangle them. “ Pack thread is too coarse ; 
but this here, this will do well enough.” 
and he began to put a nice stiff cord 
through the hem. But the job was a slow 
one, and before he was half through, some- 
body knocked at the door. He threw his 
handiwork down on the nearest chair, as 
if ashamed of it, and cried, “ Come in 1 ” 
The door opened, and Habermann, with 
his little danghter on his arm, stepped in. 
Inspector Brasig started up. “ May you — 
keep the nose on your face,” he was going 
to say, but when anything serious hap- 
pened to him he had an unfortunate habit 
of falling into Platt-Deutsch, — “ Karl 
Habermann, where do you come from ? ” 
“ Good day, Brasig,” said Habermann, 
and put the child down. 

“ Karl Habermann,” cried Brasig again, 
“ where do you come from ? ” 

“From a place, Brasig, where I have 
now nothing more to look for,” said his 
friend. “ Is my sister not at home ? ” 

“ They are all in the hay ; but how shall 
I understand you ? ” 

“ That it is all over with me ; day before 
yesterday all my goods were sold at auc- 
tion ; and yesterday morning ” — here he 
turned to the window — “ yesterday morn- 
ing I buried my wife.” 

“ What ? what ? Oh, dear Lord ! ” cried 
the kind-hearted inspector. “Your wife? 
your dear, good wife ? ” — and the tears 
ran over his red face — “Friend, old 
friend, say, how did that happen ? ” ' 


“ Yes, how did it happen ? ” said Haber- 
mann, and seated himself, and related his 
misfortunes in few words. 

Meanwhile, Lining and Mining went 
slowly and shyly toward the strange child, 
saying nothing, but ever drawing a little 
nearer, till Lining mustered courage, and 
took hold of the sleeve of her dress, and 
Mining showed the fragments of her pot : 
“ Look, my pot is broken.” The little 
new-comer however looked around shyly 
with her large eyes, and fixed them at last 
closely upon her father. 

“ Yes,” Habermann closed his short 
story,” it has gone hard with me, Brasig, 
and you still hold my note for two hun- 
dred thalers ; but don’t press me, if God 
spares my life, you shall be honourably 
paid.” 

“ Karl Habermann, — Karl Habermann,” 
said Brasig, and wiped his eyes, and 
blew his stately nose, “ You are — you 
are a sheep’s-head! Yes,” said he, and 
stuffed his handkerchief fiercely into his 
pocket, and elevated his nose again, “ You 
are just the sheep’s-head you always were ! ” 
And as if it occurred to him that his old 
friend should be diverted to other thoughts, 
he picked up Lining and Mining like a 
couple of dolls, and set them on Haber- 
mann’s knee, — “ There, you little rogues, 
that is your uncle ! ” — exactly as if Lining 
and Mining were playthings, and Haber- 
mann a little child, who might be com- 
forted by them in his trouble; and he 
himself took Habermann’s little Louise on 
his arm, and danced with her about the 
room, and all this time the tears were 
running down his cheeks, and for a happy 
ending he put the child down in a chair, 
and, as it happened, exactly the chair on 
which he had deposited his half-finished 
millinery. 

By this time the house-people were com- 
ing back from the hay-field, and a loud, 
clear, female voice was heard without, urg- 
ing the maids to hasten. “ Hurry, hurry, 
come out with your milk-pails, the sun is 
going down, and this year the pasture is 
so far off ; we shall have to milk to night 
in the twilight. Girl, where are your 
trenchers ? Quick, run in and fetch them. 
Go right along ; I must look after my lit- 
tle ones first.” And into the room came a 
tall young woman, of seven and twenty 
years, full of life and energy in face and 
figure, her cheeks red with health and labor 
and the heat of the summer day, hair and 
eyes light, and forehead white as snow, so 
far as the chip hat had sheltered it from 
the sun. At the first glance one saw the 
likeness between her and Habermann, but 


10 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


his features and demeanor seemed re- 
served, and hers quite fresh and open ; her 
whole appearance showed that she was as 
active a worker from temperament as he 
was from honor and duty. 

To see her brother, and to fly toward 
him was all one. “ Karl, my brother Karl, 
my other father ! ” cried she, and hung 
about his neck ; but, as she looked more 
closely into his eyes, she held him back 
from herself : “ Tell me what has hap- 

ened, tell me what dreadful thing has 

appened 1 what is it ? ” 

Before he could answer, her husband 
entered the door, and going up to Haber- 
mann gave him his hand, and said slowly, 
as if with an effort ; “ Good day, brother- 
in-law ; take a seat.” 

“Let him tell what has happened to 
him,” cried his wife, impatiently. 

“ Yes,” said Jochen, “ sit down, and then 
tell. Good day to you also, Brasig ; sit 
down too, Brasig,” and with that Jochen 
Nussler, or as he was generally called 
young Jochen, sat down himself in a cor- 
ner by the stove, which piece of furniture 
he had bought with his own separate 
money. He was a long lean man, who 
carried himself with stooping shoulders, 
and it seemed as if all his limbs had par- 
ticular objections to being put to the ordi- 
nary use. He was well on toward forty, 
his face was pale, and as dull as his speech, 
and his soft sandy hair hung in front and 
behind of equal length, over his forehead 
and the collar of his coat, and never had 
known any fashions of parting or curling ; 
his mother had from his childhood up 
combed the hair over his face, and so it 
had stayed, and when it looked rather 
tangled his mother would say: “Never 
mind, Joching, the rough foal makes the 
smartest horse.” Whether it was because 
his eyes must always peer through this 
long hair, or from his nature, his glance 
had something shy, as if he could not see 
things clearly or make up his mind positive- 
ly, and though he was right-handed, his 
mouth was askew. This came from tobacco- 
smoking, for that was the one business 
which he followed with perseverance, and 
as he kept the pipe hanging in the left cor- 
ner of his mouth, it had drawn it down in 
that direction, and, while looking at him 
from the right it seemed as if he could 
not say “ zipp,” from the left he ap- 
peared like an ogre who would devour 
children. 

Now he sat there in his own especial 
chimney-corner, and smoked out of his 
peculiar mouth-corner, and while his im- 
pulsive wife for sorrow and compassion 


lamented over Habermann’s story as if it 
had all happened to herself that very day ; 
and now it was her brother, and now his 
little daughter that she kissed and com- 
forted, he sat and looked over at the chief 
actors, from the side next Brasig, and with 
the tobacco smoke came now and then a 
couple of broken words from the left side 
of his mouth : “ Yes, it is all so, as you say. 
It is all as true as leather. What shall we 
do about it ? ” 

The Herr Inspector Brasig was the ex- 
act opposite of young Jochen ; now he ran 
about the room, now he sat down on a 
chair, and now on a table, and worked his 
little legs with jumping up and down, like 
a linen-weaver, and when Frau Nussler 
kissed and stroked her brother, he kissed 
and stroked him also, and when Frau Niiss- 
ler took the little child in her arms and 
patted her, then he took her up afterward, 
and carried her about the room, and sat 
her down again in a chair, but always on 
grandmother’s cap. 

“ God bless me ! ” cried the house wife 
suddenly, “ have I clean forgotten every- 
thing ? Brasig, you should have thought 
of it. All this time you have had nothing 
to eat and drink! ” and with that she ran 
to the cup-board, and brought fair, white, 
country bread, and fresh butter, and went 
out and brought in sausages and ham and 
cheese, and a couple of bottles of the 
strong beer brewed especially for grand- 
father, and a pitcher of milk for the little 
ones ; and when all was neatly arranged on 
the white table-cloth, she drew her brother 
to the table, and taking up the little girl, 
chair and all, sat her down to the table 
also, and cut bread, and served them, and 
all so nimble with hand and foot, and as 
nimble with mouth and speech. And so 
bright were knife and fork, and as bright 
mien and eye; and so pure and white 
apron and table-cloth, and as pure and 
white her good heart 1 

“ You shall have something next,” said 
she to her little twin-apples, and stroked 
the little flaxen heads. “Little cousin 
comes first. Brasig, sit up to the table. 
Jochen, you come too.” 

“ Yes, I may as well,” said Jochen, took 
a long, last pull at his pipe, and brought 
his chair and himself to the table. 

“ Karl,” said Brasig, “ I can recommend 
these sausages, your sister has an uncom- 
mon knack at them, and I have many a 
time told my housekeeper she should get 
the recipe, for the old woman messes all 
sorts of unnatural things together, which 
don’t harmonize at all; in short there is 
no suitability or connection, although the 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


ingredients are as good as a swine fed ex- 
clusively on peas can furnish.” 

“ Mother, help Brasig,” said Jochen. 

“Thank you, Frau Niissler; but with 
your leave I will take my drop of Kiimmel. 
Karl, since the time when you and I and 
that rascal Pomuchelskopp were serving 
our apprenticeship under old Knirkstiidt, 
I have accustomed myself to take a little 
lviimmel with my breakfast, or with my bit 
of supper, and it suits me well, thank God ! 
But, Karl, how came you to get in with 
that rascal Pomuchelskopp? I told you 
long ago the beggar was not to be trusted ; 
he is such an old snake, he is a crafty 
hound, in short, he is a Jesuit.” 

“Ah, Briisig,” said Habermann, “we 
won’t talk about it. It is true he might 
have treated me differently, but still I 
was to blame ; why did I fall in with his 
proposal ? Something else is in my head 
now. If I could only have a place 
again ! ” 

“ Of course, you must have a place 
again. My gracious Herr Count is looking 
out for a competent inspector for his prin- 
cipal estate ; but, Karl, don’t take it ill of 
me, that wouldn’t suit you. Do you see, you 
must be rigged every morning with freshly 
blacked boots and a tight-fitting coat, and 
you must talk High-German to him, for he 
regards Platt-Deutsch as uncultivated, and 
then you have all the women about your 
neck, for they rule everything there. And 
if you could get along with the boots and 
the dress-coat, and the High-German, — for 
you used to know it well enough, though 
you may be a little out of practice now, — 
;he women would be too much for you. 
gracious Countess looks after you in 
the cow-stable and in the pig-pen. In 
short it is a service like — what shall I 
say ? like Sodom and Gomorrah 1 ” 

“ Look here 1 ” cried the mistress of the 
house, “ it just occurs to me that the Pum- 
pelhagen inspector is going to leave on St. 
John’s day ; that will be the place for you, 
Karl.” 

“Frau Niissler is always right,” said 
Brasig. “ What the Herr KammemgA 
von Pumpelhagen is, — for he laid the em- 
phasis in the man’s title always upon rath, 
so that it seemed as if he and the Kammer- 
rath had served in the army together, or 
at least had eaten out of the same spoon 
and platter, — “ what the Herr Kammerrath 
von Pumpelhagen is, nobody knows better 
than I. A man who thinks much of his 
people, and gives a good salary, and is 
quite a gentleman of the old school. He 
knew you too, in old times, Karl. That is 
the right place for you, and to-morrow I 


yet • 
The 


11 

will go over there with you. What do you 
say to it, young Jochen ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Herr Niissler, “ it is all as 
true as leather.” 

“ Bless me ! ” cried the young wife, and 
an anxious look overspread her handsome 
face, “ how I forget everything to-day 1 If 
grandfather and grandmother knew that 
we were sitting down to supper with com- 
pany, and they not called, they would 
never forgive me. Sit a little closer to- 
gether, children. Jochen, you might have 
thoqght of it.” 

“ Yes, what shall I do about it now ? ” 
said Jochen, as she was already out of the 
room. 

It was not long before the two old peo- 
ple came back with her, shuffling in with 
their leathern slippers. Upon both their 
faces lay that lurking expectation and that 
vague curiosity which comes from very 
dull hearing, and which quite too easily 
passes into an expression of obstinacy and 
distrust. It has justly been said that mar- 
ried people, who have lived long together, 
and have thought and cared and worked 
for the same objects, come at last to look 
like each other ; and even if that is not true 
of the cut of the features, it holds good for 
the expression. Both looked like people 
who never had allowed themselves any 
pleasure or satisfaction which would be in 
the least expensive ; both looked shabby 
and dingy in their clothing, as if they must 
still be sparing and tug at the wheel, and 
as if even .water cost money. No look of 
comfort in their old age, no pleasure 
sparkled in their eyes, for they had had but 
one pleasure in their whole lives, — that was 
their Jochen and his good success ; now 
they were laid aside and heaviness lay on 
their natures, and on their only joy, for 
Jochen was quite too heavy ; but for his 
success they still cared and toiled, — it 
was the last goal of their lives. 

The old man was almost imbecile, but 
the old woman still kept her faculties, and 
her eyes glanced furtively into all the cor- 
ners, like a pair of sharpers watching their 
opportunity. 

Habermann rose and gave his hand to 
the two old people, and his sister stood by, 
looking anxiously in their faces to see what 
they thought of the visit. She had already 
told them the occasion of her brother’s 
coming, and that might have been the rea- 
son why their faces looked sourer than 
usual ; or it might have been on account 
of the luxurious supper with which the ta* 
ble was spread. 

The old folks sat down to the table. 
The old woman looked sharply at Haber- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


12 


mann’s little girl. “Is that his?” she 
asked. 

The young woman nodded. 

“ Going to stay here ? ” she asked fur- 
ther. 

The young woman nodded again. 

“ So 1 ” said the old woman, and pro- 
longed the word, as if to indicate all the 
damage which she expected her Jochen to 
suffer on that account. “ Yes, times are 
hard,” she began, as if she must have a 
fling at the times, “ and one has enough 
to do to carry oneself through the world.” 

The old man all the time was looking at 
the beer bottles and Brasig’s glass. “ Is 
that my beer ? ” asked he. 

“ Yes,” shouted Brasig into his ear, “ and 
it is fine beer, which Frau Niissler has 
brewed, a good cordial for a thin, weak 
person.” 

“ Too extravagant ! Too extravagant ! ” 
muttered the old man to himself. The 
old woman ate, but kept looking away, 
over the table, toward the chest of drawers. 

The young wife, who must have studied 
attentively the old woman’s behavior, 
looked in the same direction, and perceived 
with horror that the cap was missing from 
the stand. “ Good heavens ! what had 
become of the cap ? ” She had herself 
that very morning plaited it and hung it up 
on the stand. 

“ Where is my cap for to-morrow ? ” 
asked the old woman, at last. 

“Never mind now, mother,” said the 
young woman, bending toward her, “ I will 
get it for you by and by.” 

“ Is it all plaited ? ” 

The young woman nodded, and thought 
surely now grandmother would be satis- 
fied ; but the old woman glanced her eyes 
sideways about the room, as, fifty years 
ago, she had been used to look at young 
men. The Herr Inspector Brasig called 
his sins to mind, as they began to talk 
about the cap, and tried, in a couple of 
hasty glances, to ascertain what had be- 
come of the affair ; but he had not much 
time, for there shot over the old woman’s 
face such a bitter-sweet, venomous grin, 
that she reminded one of the dry bread 
steeped in poisonous syrup with which one 
catches flies. 

“ Are you sure you plaited it ? ” said 
she, and pointed to Habermann’s little 
Louise. 

“ Good heavens, what is that ! ’’ cried 
the young woman, and sprang up and per- 
ceived an end of the cap-string hanging 
out under the child’s little dress. She 
lifted the child, and would have taken the 
head-gear, but the old woman was quicker. 


Hastily she seized her disordered finery, 
and, as she perceived the burst-out puff 
and Brasig’s half-inserted drawing-string, 
the venom broke out, and, holding up the 
cap, “ Mischievous child ! ” cried she, and 
made a motion as if she would box the 
child’s ears with it. 

But Brasig caught her arm, and cried, 
“ The child knows nothing about it ; ” and 
to himself he muttered, “ The old dragon 1” 
And behind grandmother’s chair began a 
reat crying, and Mining sobbed, “ Won’t 
o it again ! Won’t do it again ! ” and 
Lining sobbed also, “Won’t do it again! 
Won’t do it again ! ” 

“ Bless my soul ! ” cried the young wo- 
man, “our own children have done the 
mischief. Mother, it was our own chil- 
dren ! ” But the old woman had all her 
life understood too well what was for her 
own advantage, not to know in her old 
age how to profit by her grievances ; what 
she would not hear, she did not hear, and 
she would not hear this. She called and 
beckoned to the old man : “ Come ! ” 

“Mother, mother,” begged the young 
woman, “ give me the cap, I will make it 
all right again.” 

“ Who is up in the pasture ? ” asked the 
old woman, and went with old Jochen out 
of the door. 

Young Jochen lighted his pipe. “ God 
bless me ! ” said the young woman, “ she 
is right, I must go to the pasture. Grand- 
mother will not think well of me for the 
next four weeks.” 

“Gruff was an old dog,” said Brasig, 
“ but Gruff had to give in at last.” 

“ Don’t cry any longer, you poor little 
things,” said the mother, drying her chil- 
dren’s tears. “ You didn’t mean any 
harm, but you are too heedless. And now 
behave well, and play with little cousin. 

I must go. Jochen, look after the children 
a little,” and with that she put on her 
chip hat and went to the pasture. 

“ Mothers-in-law are the devil’s claw ! ” 
said Brasig. “But you, young Jochen,” 
turning to the man, who sat there as if 
his mother and his wife were no concern 
of his, “you should be ashamed of your- 
self to let your wife be so abused by the 
old woman.” 

“ Yes ? what shall I do about it, being 
her son ? ” said young Jochen. 

“ You cannot beat her, to be sure, since 
they are unfortunately your parents ; but 
you might give a filial admonition, now 
and then, like a dutiful son, that the devil 
in her must be cast out, if she will not 
keep peace in the family. And you, Karl 
Habermann, don’t take this little quarrel 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


13 


too much to heart; for your dear sister 
has a good temper and a joyous heart. 
She soon gets over it, and the old terma- 
gant must give in at last, for they can do 
nothing without her. The young woman 
is the mainspring of the house. “ But ” — 
here he drew out from his pocket an im- 
mense double-cased watch, such a thing as 
one calls a warming-pan — “really, it is 
close upon seven 1 I must hurry, for my 
people need looking after. 1 

“ Hold on,” said Habermann, “ I will go 
part way with you. Good-bye for so long, 
Jochen.” 

“ Good-bye, also, brother-in-law,” said 
Jochen, and remained sitting in his corner. 

As they came out of doors, Habermann 
said, “But, Briisig, how can you speak 
so of the old people, in their son’s 
presence ? ” 

“ lie is used to it, Karl. No devil 
could endure those two old dogs-in-the- 
manger. They have embroiled them- 
selves with the whole neighborhood, and 
as for the servants, they run miles to get 
out of their way.” 

“ Good heavens,” said Habermann, “ my 
poor sister 1 She was such a joyous child, 
and now in such a house, and with such a 
lout of a man 1 ” 

“ There you are right, Karl, he is an old 
lout (Niiss), and Niissler is liis name ; but 
he does not treat your sister badly, and, 
although he is an old blockhead and has 
no sort of smartness about him, he is not 
yet so dull that he cannot see how your 
sister manages the whole concern.” 

“ The poor girl ! On my account, that 
she might not be a burden on me, as she 
said, and that our old mother might see 
one of her children settled before her death, 
she took the man. 

“ I know all about it, Karl, I know it 
from my own experience. Don’t you re- 
member ? It was in rye-harvest, and you 
said to me, ‘ Zachary,’ said you, ‘your ac- 
tivity is a disadvantage to you, you are 
carrying in your rye still damp.’ And I 
said, ‘ How so ? ’ For on Sunday we had 
already had Streichelbier, and your sister 
was there also, and with such weather why 
shouldn’t I get in my rye ? And then I ! 
told you, unless I am mistaken, that of my ! 
three partners I would marry no other than | 
your sister. Then you laughed again, so j 
mischievously, and said, she was still too 
young. ‘ What has her youth to do with 
it?’ said I. Then you said again my 
other two partners had the first chance, 
and laughed, not believing I was in ear- 
nest ; and so the matter dawdled along for 
awhile, for my gracious Herr Count would 


not give his consent, and allowed no mar- 
ried inspectors. And next thing it was 
too late, for young Jochen had spoken for 
her, and your mother was on his side. No, 
it was not to be,” said the honest old fel- 
low, looking pensively along his nose, “ but 
when I see her little rogues of twins, and 
think to myself that they ought rightly to 
be mine, listen to me, Karl, then I feel as 
if I could trample the old woman and old 
Jochen and young Jochen into the ground 
together. But it is a real blessing to the 
old Jesuits that your sister has came into 
the house, with her kind heart and cheer- 
ful disposition; for if they had had a 
daughter-in-law of a different sort, they 
would long since have been dead and 
buried.” 

With these words, they had come out of 
the hamlet, and as they turned by the 
farm-garden Habermann exclaimed, “ Good 
heavens, can it be that the two old people 
are standing on that hill ? ” 

“Yes,” said Brasigi with a scornful 
laugh, “ there is the old pack of Jesuits 
again at their place of retirement.” 

“ Retirement ! ” exclaimed Habermann. 
“ On a hill-top 1 ” 

“It is even so, Karl. The old reptile 
trusts nobody, not her own children, and 
if she has something to say which her 
ordinary gestures and pantomime will not 
suffice for, then they always come here to 
this steep hill, where they can see all 
around if any one is within hearing, and 
then they shout their secrets in each 
other’s ears. Yes, now they are in full 
conclave, the old woman has laid a drag- 
on’s egg, and they are setting on it to- 
gether.” 

“ She is so hasty and passionate,” said 
Habermann. “ Just see how the old 
woman gesticulates 1 What would she 
have ? ” 

“I know right well what they are de- 
liberating and ruminating upon. I can 
understand a hundred paces off, for I 
know her of old. And Karl,” he added, 
after a little thought, raising his eyebrows, 
“ it is best you should know all, that you 
may hold yourself ready ; they are talking 
of you and your little one.” 

“ Of me, and my little girl ? ” asked 
Habermann, in astonishment. 

“ Yes, Karl. You see if you had come 
with a great bag of money, they would 
have welcomed you with open arms, for 
money is the one thing which they hold in 
respect ; but in your temporary embarrass- 
ment they look upon you and your little 
girl as nothing better than a couple of in> 
truders, who will take the bread from their 


14 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


mouths, and from their old blockhead of a 
Jochen.” 

“ God bless me ! ” cried Habermann, 
“ why didn’t I leave the child with the Ras- 
sows ? What shall I do with the poor lit- 
tle thing ? Do you know any expedient V 
I cannot leave her here, not even with my 
own sister can I leave her here.” 

“But naturally, you wish to have her 
near you. Now I will tell you, Karl, to- 
night you must stay with the Niissler's ; to- 
morrow we will go to the Herr Kammer- 
rath at Pumpelhagen. If that goes well, 
then we can find a place for the child here 
in the neighbourhood ; if not, we will ride 
to the city, and there we must find some 
opening, — if not otherwise, with the mer- 
chant Kurz. And now good-bye, Karl ! 
Don’t take the matter too much to heart, — 
things will improve, Karl ! ” whereupon he 
departed. 

“ Yes, if all were like you,” said Haber- 
mann, as he went back to his sister’s house, 
“ then I should get over the steep moun- 
tain ; but get over it I must, and will,” and 
the cheerful courage, which had been 
nurtured by labor and his feeling of duty, 
broke through the gloom, like the sun 
through a mist. “ My sister shall suffer 
no inconvenience on my account, and I will 
take care of my child myself.” 

In the evening, when the milk had been 
cared for, Habermann walked with his sis- 
ter along the garden-path, and she spoke 
of his, and he of her, troubles. 

“ Eh, Karl,” said she, “don’t fret about 
me ! I am used to it all now. Yes, it is 
true, the old folks are very selfish and irri- 
table ; but if they sulk at me for a week, 

I forget it all the next hour, and as for 
Jochen, I must own that he lays nothing 
in my way, and has never given me a hard 
word. If he were only a little more active 
and ready, — but that is not to be looked 
for in him. I have enough to do in my 
house-keeping, but I have to concern my- 
self with the out-of-door work, too, which 
is not a woman’s business, and there Brii- 
sig is a real comfort to me, for he has an 
eye to the fields and the farm-yard, and 
starts Jochen ujd a little.” 

“Does the farming go well on the 
whole, and do you come out right at the 
year’s end? ” asked the brother. 

“ It does not go as well as it ought. We 


are too sparing for that, and the old folks 
will not allow us to make any changes or 
improvements. We come out right, and 
the rent is always paid promptly, but there 
are Jochen’s two old brothers-in-law, the 
merchant Kurz, and the Rector Baldrian 
— they made quite a stir about it, and set 
the old people and us by the ears because 
they wanted their share of the property. 
The Rector doesn’t really need it, but he 
is such an old miser ; but Kurz could 
use his money, for he is a merchant, and 
will yet have a large business. But the 
two old people wish to give almost every- 
thing to Jochen, and with that which they 
have kept back for themselves they cannot 
part, and the old woman has an old rhyme, 
which she always quotes, if one touches on 
the subject : — 

“ Who to his children gives his bread, 
Himself shall suffer need instead, 

And with a club be stricken dead.” 

But it is wrong, all wrong, and no bless- 
ing can come of it, for one child is as good 
as another, and at first I said that right 
out to the old people. Oh, what an uproar 
there was ! They had earned it, and what 
had I brought into the family ? Upon my 
knees I ought to thank God and them, 
that they would make a man of Jochen. 
But I have persuaded Jochen, so that to 
Kurz at least he has from time to time 
given upwards of fifteen hundred thalers. 
The old woman has noticed it, to be sure, 
and has reckoned it all up, but she does 
not know yet the truth of the matter ; be- 
cause, since Jochen is rather slow, and is 
not used to reckoning, I keep the purse 
myself, and there I positively will not al- 
low grandmother to interfere. No, grand- 
mother, I am not so stupid as that ! If I 
have a house of my own, I will have my 
own purse. And that is their great 
grievance, that they can no longer play 
the guardian over Jochen ; but Jochen is 
almost forty, and if he will not rule him- 
self, then I will rule him, for I am his wife, 
and the nearest to him, as our Frau Pas- 
torin says. Now, tell me, Karl, am I right 
or am I wrong ? ” 

“ You are right, Diirten,” said Haber- 
mann. 

With that they said good-night, and 
went to bed. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER III. 

The next morning came Brasig in good 
season, to go with Habermann to Pumpel- 
hagen. The young wife sat in the living- 
room, and was paying off the work-people ; 
Jochen sat close by her, and smoked to- 
bacco, — he attended to that business. 
The old people were not yet visible, for 
grandmother had said to her daughter-in- 
law, she at least could not go out to-day, 
since she had nothing to put on her head ; 
and grandfather had said that merry-mak- 
ing would go on better without him. 

“It is really considerate of the old 
people,” said Br'asig, “ not to spoil our din- 
ner ; for, Madam Niissler, I am going to 
stay here to dinner to-day, with Karl. 
But, Karl, we must go. Good-bye, little 
rogues ! ” 

As they went through the farm-yard, 
Brasig all of a sudden stood still. “ Just 
see, Karl, doesn’t it look like the desert of 
Sahara? Here a dung-heap and there a 
dung-heap ! And yet, see, old Jochen has 
had these ditches opened, so that all the 
dirty water can run off, in a body, to the 
village pond. And then the roofs ! ” said 
he, walking on. “ They have straw enough 
for new roofs, — it is merely that the old 
folks grudge the expense of repairing 
them. I come here properly only from 
two motives, — one relates to my health, 
the other to my heart ; for I find that it 
agrees with me, when I have eaten too 
hearty a dinner, to get comfortably angry, 
and, on account of my heart, I go for the 
sake of your sister and the little rogues, 
since I can be of some assistance to her. For 
young Jochen behaves usually quite too 
much like a wheel on a baggage-wagon, in 
the winter, between here and Rostock. If 
I could but once have him before a cart, 
with three or four on top of the load, and 
then lay on the whip 1 ” 

“ See,” said Habermann, as they went 
through a field, “they have some fine- 
looking wheat there.” 

“ Oh, yes, it has a good color ; but what 
do you think they sow here ? Rye ! And 
why so ? Because old Jochen, for twenty- 
five years, has always had rye in the win- 
ter field.” 

“Does this field extend over the hill 
yonder? ” 

“ No, Karl, the old lynx is not so fat as 
that ; fry lard in butter, and eat it with a 
spoon 1 No, Karl, that field over the hill 
happens to be mine.” 

“ Eh, how one can forget, in a couple of 
years ! So your land comes thus far ? ” 

“Yes, Karl, for Warnitz stretches out 


15 

finely in length ; on this side it comes to 
this point, and on the other it turns round 
toward Haunerwiem. But see here, from 
this rising-ground I can show you the 
whole region. Where we stand belongs 
to your brother-in-law, and his land goes 
on the right up to my wheat, and on the 
left to that little clump of firs, for Rexow 
is quite small. He has also a small field 
on the other side of the hamlet. The land 
to the right, behind my wheat field, also 
belongs to Warnitz, and before us, where 
the ploughed ground begins, lies Pumpel- 
hagen; and here on the left, behind the 
fir-trees, is Gurlitz.” 

“ Warnitz is then the largest ? ” 

“ No, Karl, not so either. Pumpelhagen 
has eight lasts more, and is a first-class 
estate also in value, — two-and-forty lasts 
natural wheat land. Yes, if the rest were 
all of a piece I No, the Ivammerrath is a 
good man, and a good countryman; but 
you see, there he sits in Schwerin, and 
cannot trouble himself about Pumpelhagen, 
where he has often had such inspectors! 
And he bought the property in dear times, 
and a crowd of leeches stand ready to 
drain the last drop from his veins; and 
then his lady, the Kammerrathin, rides 
grandly in her carriage visiting and enter- 
taining. But he is the right sort of man, 
and is good to his people, and although 
the von Rambows are of old descent, — for 
my gracious Herr Count often invites him 
to dinner, and he thinks a great deal of 
ancestry, — yet he carries himself quite 
pleasantly and without any formality.” 

Habermann had listened attentively to 
this information, for these things might by 
a fortunate chance have some connection 
with his future ; but, interested as he was, 
his thoughts still recurred to his present 
difficulty. “Brasig,” said he, “have you 
any idea in your head about my little 
girl ? ” 

“ What wouldn’t I do for her, Karl ! But 
— the devil knows ! I believe we must af- 
ter all go to the city to Kurz, the mer- 
chant. She, Frau Kurz, is a good sort 
of woman, and he — well, he is in the voca- 
tive, like all shop-keepers. Just think, last 
summer the rascal sold me a piece of stuff 
for breeches, for Sunday wear; it was a 
kind of chocolate-colour. And, think, 
when I went one morning in the dew, 
through my clover, they turned up to the 
knee, like a mess of crabs, pure scarlet! 
And he sent me some Kiimmel, the Prus- 
sian kind, the old sweet-meats, tinkered up 
with all sorts of drops. But I sent it back 
to him again, with a good scolding; the 
breeches, however, he would not take back, 


16 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


and sent me word he didn’t wear breeches. 
No, did the rascal think I was going to 
wear red ones! And Karl, see, here at 
the left is Gnrlitz. 

“Is that the Gurlitz church-tower?” 
asked Habermann. 

“Yes, Karl,” — and Brasig stood still, 
turned up his nose, sent his eyebrows up 
under his cocked hat, — for he wore a hat 
on Sundays, — opened his mouth wide, and 
stared at Habermann with a pair of eyes 
which seemed to look him through and 
through, and then lose themselves in the 
distance. 

“ Karl ! ” he cried finally, “ since you 
speak of the church-tower, — God bless 
you! the Gurlitz pastor must take your 
little girl.” 

“ Pastor Behrens ? ” asked Habermann. 

“ Yes, Paster Behrens, who was our pri- 
vate instructor at old Knirkstiidt’s.” 

“ Ah, Brasig, I will confess I have thought 
of it almost the whole night, whether that 
would be possible, if I should remain in 
the neighbourhood.” 

“ Possible ? He must ! He would like 
nothing better than to have a little child 
growing up near him, since he himself has 
no children ; and he has rented his farm, 
and now has nothing to do but to read and 
study his books, which it would make an- 
other man turn green and yellow merely 
to look at from a distance. That is what 
he enjoys ! And she, the Frau Pastorin, is 
so fond of children, that all the girls in the 
village tag after her; and she is an excel- 
lent, kind-hearted woman, and always 
cheerful, and the best of friends with your 
sister.” 

“ Ah, if that might be ! ” exclaimed Ha- 
bermann. “ You and I owe everything to 
that man, Zachary ! Do you remember, 
when he was still a candidate, at old 
Knirkstadt’s, how he gave us private 
lessons in the winter evenings, and taught 
us writing and arithmetic, and what a 
friend he was to us two stupid young- 
sters?” 

“ Yes, Karl, and how Zamel Pomuchels- 
kopp used to lie and snore of an evening, 
till the beams shook, while we were in the 
pursuit of learning. Do you remember, in 
the arithmetic, when we came to the Rule 
of Three, — you seek the fourth unknown 
quantity, and first get the ratio, and then 
it goes 1 In quickness I was your superior, 
but you were mine in accuracy, and also 
in orthography. But in letter-writing and 
in High-German, then I was better again ; 
and these last I have ever since studied 
diligently, for every man has his favorite 
pursuit. And when I go to see the Pastor, 


I always thank him for his assistance in 
my education ; and then he laughs, and 
says he is more indebted to me, because I 
have rented his farm for him, and he ia 
now sure of a good contract. He thinks 
something of me, and if you stay here, we 
will go over to him, and you shall see he 
will do it.” 

By this time they had arrived at Pum- 
pelhagen, and Brasig quite impressed 
Habermann by his distinguished manners, 
as he sailed up to the old servant, and in- 
quired if the Herr Kammerrath was at 
home, and could be spoken with. 

He would announce the gentlemen the 
man said ; wasn’t it the Herr Inspector, 
Brasig ? 

“ Yes,” said Brasig. “ Do you see, Karl 
he knows me, and the Herr Kammerrath 
knows me too. And, did you notice? 
regularly announcing us 1 The nobilPy 
don’t do things meanly. My gracious 
Herr Count always has people announced 
to him by three servants; that is, one 
announces to the other, until the valet 
finally announces to him, and by this 
custom we sometimes have amusing occur- 
rences, — as, the other day, with the kam- 
merj'ager. The first announced to the 
second, instead of kammerjager, ober- 
j'ager, and the second added a meister, 
and the third announced to the Herr 
Count an oberjiigermeister ; and, as my 
gracious Herr Count prepared to receive 
the strange gentleman with proper cer- 
emony, it was the old rat-catcher Ti- 
baul.” 

The servant came back, and led them 
into a spacious room, which was very com- 
fortably but not splendidly furnished. In 
the centre stood a large, plain tabic, cov- 
ered with papers and accounts. Behind 
the table stood, as they entered, a rather 
tall, thin man, who had on his face a 
thoughtful expression, and in his whole 
appearance an air of quiet reflection ; and 
in his dress, although it was quite suited 
to his circumstances, there was the same 
simplicity as in the furnishing of the room. 
He might have been about fifty, and his 
sandy hair was thickly sprinkled with 
gray; also he was evidently quite short- 
sighted, for, as he came around the table 
to receive the two guests, he reached after 
an eye-glass, which, however, he did not 
use, but went up close to his visitors. 
“Ah, Herr Inspector Brasig,” said he 
quietly. “ What can I do for you ? ” 

Uncle Brasig wa3 so put out in his elab- 
orate address, that he could not collect 
himself of a sudden; not to hurry him, 
the Herr Kammerrath looked quite closely 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 17 


at Habermann. “ You want Rut,” he 

interrupted himself, “I ought to know 
you. Wait a moment, — were you not for 
ten or twelve years in service with my 
brother ? ” 

“ Yes, Herr Kammerrath, and my name 
is Habermann.” 

“ Right, right ! And to what do I owe 
the pleasure of seeing you here ? ” 

“ 1 have understood that the Herr Kam- 
merrath was looking for an inspector ; and 
as I am in search of such a place ” 

“ But you have a farm in Pomerania, as I 
think I have heard,” interrupted the pro- 
prietor*. 

But now it was high time for Br'asig, if 
he had anything of importance to say, to 
charge into the midst. “ That he had, 
Herr Kammerrath von Rambow, he had it, 
but the Jews will give nothing for it now. 
He, like many another farmer, got into 
difficulties, and the pitiful meanness and 
baseness of his landlord have ruined him. 
What do you say to that, Herr Kammer- 
rath?” 

Behind the old fellow’s back at these 
words sounded a hearty laugh, and as he 
looked around he saw the bright face of a 
ten or twelve years’ old boy, which seemed 
to say, “ Wait a bit, there is more com- 
ing.” The Kammerrath also turned his 
face away to laugh a little ; but happily 
for uncle Br'asig, it never occurred to him 
that the laughing was from any other 
cause than natural pleasure at his well- 
chosen language. He concluded there- 
fore, quite seriously. “ And so he has gone 
head over heels.” 

“I am heartily sorry,” said the Kammer- 
rath ; “ Yes,” he added with a sigh, “ these 
are hard times for the countrymen; but 
we must hope that they will improve. As 
regards your wish, — Axel, go out and see 
if breakfast is ready, — your supposition 
is correct. I have just dismissed my late 
inspector, — I will tell you, because of 
carelessness in his accounts, — and I am 
looking for a suitable man to fill his place. 
But,” said he, as his son appeared at the 
door, and announced that breakfast was 
ready, “ if you have not yet breakfasted, 
we can arrange the matter best at the 
breakfast-table.” 

With that, he went to the door, but 
stood there, and made a motion with his 
hand for them to pass out first. “Karl,” 
whispered Br’asig, “didn’t I tell you? 
Just like one of us 1 ” But as Habermann 
quietly passed on, accepting the invitation, 
he threw up his eyebrows, and stretched 
out his hand as if he would draw his 
friend back by the coat-tails, then stood 
2 


with his little twisted legs turned out, 
and bowed like a clasp-knife. 

“ Eh, how could 1 1 I beseech you 1 
Herr Kammerrath should always have 
precedence ! ” And his waiting was not 
of a bad order, for he had a long body and 
short legs, and they belong properly to 
waiters. 

The Herr Kammerrath had to take him- 
self out of the way of his compliments, 
that the old fellow might not dislocate his 
spine. At the breakfast-table the business 
was discussed and decided; Habermann 
was engaged on a good, sufficient salary, 
which was to be increased every five 
years; and the only condition which the 
Kammerrath insisted upon was that he 
should occupy the place at once. 

The new inspector agreed to this, and 
the day was set for his entering on his 
duties, so that the Kammerrath before his 
departure could go with him about the 
place and tell him what he wanted done ; 
and Brasig having concluded a brief sketch 
of the troubled life-career of the fifteen 
years’ old full-blooded Wallach, which he 
had cared for in his business at the farm, 
— how he had “had the honor to know the 
old carrion ever since it was born ; ” how 
the creature in its younger years had been 
“ such a colt as you read of in books,” but 
afterward “ with shying and spavin and all 
manner of devilish tricks had so disgraced 
himself that he was now punished by be- 
ing harnessed to the dung-cart,” — the two 
inspectors took their leave. 

“Brasig,” said Habermann, when they 
were outside, “a stone has been taken 
from my heart. Thank God, I shall be 
employed again I And that brings me to 
other thoughts. Now for Gurlitz ! Ah, if 
we may only be as fortunate there I ” 

“Yes, Karl, you may well say fortunate ; 
for — don’t take it ill of me — you don’t 
understand the way of life and the fine 
etiquette of noble society. How could you 
do such a thing 1 How could you go 
through the door before the Herr Kam- 
merrath ? ” 

“ Brasig, when he invited me I was his 
guest, and he was not yet my master; 
now, I should not do it, and, rely upon it, 
he would not do it either.” 

“ No, Karl, so I think ; but at the Pas- 
tor’s leave the business to me ; there some 
finesse will be needed.” 

“ Yes, Zachary, gladly. Were it not for 
my poor little girl, I should not have the 
courage to ask so great a favor of any 
man. If you will undertake it for me, I 
shall consider it a real piece of friendship.” 

As they came toward the Gurlitz church, 


18 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


they knew by the singing that the service 
was not yet over ; and, as they went into 
the Pastor’s house, and into the living-room, 
they were met by a little, quick, round 
woman, upwards of forty years of age. 
Everything about her was round, — arms 
and hands and fingers, head and cheeks 
and lips ; and the eyes looked so round and 
bright out of her soft round face, as if the 
eyelids had never been pressed down with 
trouble and sorrow, and such a cheery life 
over flowed from her mien and motions, 
that one believed he could almost see how 
the fresh, red blood throbbed through the 
warm heart. 

“ Good-day, Herr Brasig, sit down ! Sit 
down, also ! Yes, that is right, my Pastor 
is still in church ; he would scold well if 
you had gone away. Pray sit down, Herr 
— what shall I call you ? Yes, I would 
gladly have gone to church to-day, but 
just think, last Sunday the Pastor’s pew 
was broken in halves. Bless me, how 
every body crowded around, and we 
couldn’t say “ No.” And our old cabinet- 
maker Priisshawer was going to mend it, 
and he is sick with a fever.” 

The round little mouth rolled out the 
words as if they were round, smooth, white 
billiard balls, which a playful child shoots 
here and there over the green cloth. 

Brasig now introduced Habermann as 
the brother of Frau Nussler. 

“ You are her brother ? Her brother 
Karl ? Now sit down, sit down 1 How 
glad my Pastor will be ! When Frau 
Nussler is here, we always talk about you ; 
something good you may be sure, — the 
Herr Inspector knows. Bless you, Brasig, 
what are you doing with my hymn-book ? 
Let me put the book away! You don’t 
want to read it, you are an old heathen. 
Those are funeral-hymns, and what have 
you to do with funeral-hymns ? You will live 
forever ! You are no better than the Wan- 
dering Jew! But, dear heart! one must 
think sometimes about dying, and so, since 
our church-pew is broken, and the old cab- 
inet-maker has a fever, I have been read- 
ing a couple of hymns ‘ On preparation for 
death.”, And with that she flew round 
like quicksilver, and laid the books on one 
side, and whisked off a little dust here and 
there, where none was visible, and rubbed 
and polished about in the room, which was 
as neat as a dressing-box. All at once she 
stood still, listened toward the kitchen and 
cried, “ Ji^st so, I must go and look after 
the soup ! ” and was gone. 

“ Didn’t I tell you, Karl ? ” said Brasig. 
“ There’s a temperament for you ! And 
what splendid health ! Now leave me 


alone ; I will manage it all,” and he went 
out after the Frau Pastorin. 

Habermann looked around him in the 
room. How neat and comfortable every- 
thing was, so homelike and so full of peace. 
There hung, above the -sofa, a beautiful 
head of Christ, and around and beneath it 
were the portraits of the parents of the 
Herr Pastor and the Frau Pastorin, and 
their relations, some in colors, some in 
crayon, some large, others small ; and the 
Lord Jesus had his hands raised in bless- 
ing, and the Frau Pastorin had arranged 
under their shadow all her relations, put- 
ting them the nearest, that they might 
have the best of the blessing. 

Her own picture, painted in early years, 
and that of her Pastor, she had in humility 
hung by the window, a little further off; 
but the sun, which looked in through the 
snow-white curtains, and gilded the other 
portraits, touched these two pictures first. 
There was a small book-case full of reli- 
gious and secular books, a little mixed to- 
gether, but still making a fine appearance, 
for they were arranged more with refer- 
ence to their bindings than their contents. 
And if any one supposed, because she 
talked Platt-Deutsch, that she had no ap- 
preciation or enjoyment of High-German 
literature, he needed merely to open a 
book, where a mark lay, and he would find 
that the marked places had been read with 
heart and feeling, — that is to say, if he 
had as much heart and feeling as the Frau 
Pastorin; and, had he opened the cook- 
book, he would have seen that the Frau 
Pastorin was as good a student as the 
Herr Pastor, for she had just like him her 
notes written on the margin, and where 
nothing was written one might understand 
that those were the Herr Pastor’s favorite 
recipes, — “ And by those,” said she, “ I 
don’t need to make any marks, for I know 
them by heart.” 

And here in this peaceful abode, in this 
pretty, comfortable nest, shall Habermann, 
if God in mercy grant it, leave his child to 
pass her early years. These hands of the 
Saviour shall be stretched out in blessing 
over her, this blessed sun shall shine 
upon her, and the noble thoughts, which 
great and good men have written in books 
for the world, shall awaken her young soul 
out of childhood’s dreams, and give it life 
and joy. 

He was getting very soft-hearted. But, 
as he still sat between hope and fear, the 
Frau Pastorin came in at the door, her 
eyes red with weeping. “ Don’t say a 
word, Herr Habermann, don’t say a word ! 
Brasig has told me everything, and Brasig 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


is an old heathen, but he is a good man, 
and a true friend of yours, — and my Pas- 
tor thinks just as I do, that I know, for we 
are always one, — and that dear little 
thing ! God bless you, yes ! The old 
Niisslers are a hard-hearted set,” and she 
tapped the floor briskly with her foot. 

“ The old woman,” said Brasig, who was 
by this time close beside them, “the old 
woman is a real horse-leech.” 

“Right, Brasig, she is that, but my Pas- 
tor shall talk the old people into reason ; 
not on account of the little girl, she shall 
come here, or I don’t know my old Pastor ! ” 

While Idabermann was expressing his 
heart-felt thanks, her Pastor came in, — 
she always called him “ her” Pastor, because 
he was truly hers, body and soul, and her 
“ Pastor,” on account of his own dignity, 
and because the title belonged to him from 
his office. He came bare-headed across the 
church-yard and parsonage-yard, for these 
high soft-hats, which make our good Prot- 
estant ministers look like Russian priests, 
were not then in fashion, at least not in the 
country ; and, instead of the great ruff, as 
broad as the white china platter on which 
the daughter of Herodias presents the head 
of John-Baptist to her step-father, he had 
a pair of little innocent bands, which his 
dear wife Regina had, with all Christian 
reverence, stitched, stiffened, pressed and 
tied around his neck with her own. hands. 
She held correctly that these little simple 
things were the distinctive ministerial uni- 
form, and not the little four-cornered cape 
which was worn over the coat-collar. 
“For,” said she, “my dear Frau Niissler, 
our sexton wears just such a little cape, 
but he dare not wear bands ; and when I 
see my Pastor, with the ornaments of his 
office, standing in the chancel, I don’t know, 
they seem to me, the two little things, as 
they rise and fall with his words, now one, 
now the other, like a pair of angel-wings, 
on which one might rise directly to Heaven, 
— only my Pastor has his wings in front, 
and the angels have theirs behind.” 

No, he wasn’t an angel, this good Paster 
of hers, and he was the last person to set 
himself up for one. But with all the sin- 
cerity that shone from his face, and seemed 
to know no dissimulation, there was such a 
friendly forbearance, such a quiet, kindly 
expression, that one must hold him at the 
first glance for a brave man, and although 
his whole life had been given up to self- 
denying labor, yet he could — naturally 
after the Frau Pastorin had taken off his 
cape and bands — show in his eyes his joy- 
ous heart, and utter innocent jests with his 
lips ; and, when he put off the ecclesiastic, 


19 

he stood forth as a man who, in worldly 
matters also, could give sensible counsel, 
and reach forth a helping hand. 

# As he stepped into the room, he recog- 
nized Habermann immediately, and went 
right up to him. “ My dear friend, do I see 
you once more ! How are you ? Good- 
day, Herr Inspector ! ” And as Habermann 
returned the greeting, and Brasig began 
to tell the reason of their visit, the Frau 
Pastorin sprang between them, and seized 
her Pastor by his ministerial gown, and 
cried, “Not a word, Herr Habermann; 
Brasig, will you be so good? You shall 
know it all from me,” said she to her hus- 
band, “ for, though the story is a sad one, 
— .yes, Herr Habermann, quite too sad, — 
ye't there will be a pleasure for you. 
Come, come ! ” and with that she drew him 
into his study. “For I am the nearest to 
him,” she called back from the door, in 
apology. 

After a while the Pastor came back with 
his wife into the room, and went, with a 
determined step and resolved expression 
on his face, up to Habermann. “ Yes, dear 
Habermann, yes ! We will do it, and, so 
far as in us lies, do it gladly,” — and he 
pressed his hand — “ but,” he added, “ we 
have no experience in the care of children, 
yet we can learn. Isn’t it so, Regina, we 
can learn?” as if with this little joke he 
would help Habermann over the deep emo- 
tion which struggled in his face and in his 
whole being. 

“Herr Pastor,” he broke out, finally, 
“ You have long ago done a great deal for 
me, but this ” And the little Frau Pas- 

torin reached after her means of consola- 
tion and implement of all work, which she 
took in hand at every surprise of joy or 
sorrow, — after her duster, — and dusted 
here and there, and would have wiped away 
Habermann’s tears with it, if he had not 
turned aside, and she called out at the door 
after Frederica: “Now, Rika, run quickly 
over to the weaver’s wife, and ask her to 
lend me her cradle, — she doesn’t use it,” 
she added, to Brasig. 

And Brasig, as if it devolved on him to 
sustain the honor of the Habermann family, 
said to her impressively : “Frau Pastorin, 
what are you thinking of? The little girl 
is quite hearty ! ” 

And the Frau Pastorin ran again to the 
door, and called back the maiden. “ Rika, 
Rika, not the cradle, — ask her to lend me 
a little crib, and then go to the sexton’s 
daughter, and see if she can come this af- 
ternoon, — God bless me, to-day is Sunday ! 
But if your ass has fallen into a pit, and so 
forth, — yes, ask her whether she can help 


20 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


me stuff a couple of little beds. For it is 
not heathenish, Brasig, it is a work of ne- 
cessity, and quite another thing from your 
Herr Count having his wheat brought in 
Sunday afternoon. And, my dear Herr 
Habermann, the little girl must come to us 
to-day, for Franz,” said she to her husband, 
“ the old Niisslers would not give the poor 
little thing even her dinner if they could 
help it, and, Briisig, bread which is not 

freely given ” here she was a little out 

of breath and Brasig went on : “ Yes, Frau 
Pastorin, one may grow fat on grudged 
bread, but the devil take such fatness ! ” 

“ You old heathen, how can you swear 
so, in a Christian Pastor’s house ? ” cried 
the Frau Pastorin. “ But the long and 
the short of the matter is, the little girl 
must come here to-day.” 

“ Yes, Frau Pastorin,” said Habermann, 
only too happy, “ I will bring her to-day. 
My poor sister will be sorry, but it is bet- 
ter for her, and for the peace of her family, 
and also for my child.” 

He went up to the two worthy people, 
and thanked them so warmly, from the 
depths of his grateful heart; and when 
they had taken leave, and were outside, he 
drew a long breath, and said to Brasig, 
“ How gloomy the world looked this morn- 
ing, but now the sun shines in my heart 
again ! I have yet a disagreeable business 
to attend to ; but it is a lucky day, and 
that may go well also.” 

“ What have you got to do now ? ” asked 
Brasig. 

“ I must go to Rahnstadt, to old Moses. 
I gave him, six months ago, my note for 
six hundred dollars ; I have not heard 
from him since my bankruptcy, and I 
must try to make some arrangement with 
him.” 

“ That you must, Karl ; and I would do 
it at once, for old Moses isn’t the worst 
man in the world, by a long way. Now I 
will tell you what shall be our order of 
battle for to-day : we will both go back to 
Rexow, and eat our dinner ; after dinner 
young Jochen must lend you his horses, 
and you can take your little one to Gurlitz ; 
go from there to the city, and come back 
in the evening to me, at Warnitz, and stay 
over night; and to-morrow you can go 
over to Pumpelhagen, since the Herr 
Ivammerrath depends on your speedy 
coming.” 

“ Right,” said Habermann, “ it shall be 
so.” 

They arrived, the dinner was eaten, and 
Brasig asked of young Jochen the loan of 
his wagon and horses. “ Of course,” cried 
Frau Niissler, — “Yes, of course,” said 


Jochen, and went out himself immedi- 
ately, to order the horses harnessed. 

“Karl,” said the sister, “ my dear broth- 
er, how glad, how heartily glad, I should 
be, if But you know the reason ; Bra- 

sig has told you. But, dear heart, if one 
could only keep peace in the family! 
Don’t believe that Jochen thinks different- 
ly from me, only he hasn’t the energy to 
stand up for his rights. But I will look 
after your child as if she were my own, 
though it will not be needful at the Par- 
sonage.” 

The wagon drove up. “ What the 
devil! ” cried Brasig, “young Jochen, you 
have got out your state-equipage, the old 
yellow coach ! ” 

“ Yes, Herr,” said Christian, who sat up 
in front. “ May we only get safe home 
again with the old thing, for it is fearfully 
crazy in the box, and the wheels clatter as 
if one were spinning flax.” 

“ Christian,” said Brasig, “ you must 
first drive a little way through the village 
pond, and then through the Gurlitz brook ; 
and then, before you get to Rahnstadt, 
though the frog-pond. That will tighten 
the wheels.” 

“ Eh ! ” said Christian ; “ one might as 
well go a sea-voyage ! ” 

As Habermann had taken leave, and put 
his little girl in the wagon, young Jochen 
pressed out through the company in such 
haste that all made way for him, and his 
wife cried out, “ What is the matter now ? ” 
“ There,” said he and placed in the hand of 
the little Louise a pound of Fleigen 
Markur, for he smoked no other tobacco ; 
but it was only in outward appearance, 
for, as Habermann looked closer, he found 
a great piece of white bread, which young 
Jochen had merely wrapped up in tobac- 
co-paper, because he had nothing else at 
hand. 

The equipage started. Christian took 
the pond and the brook on his way, as 
Brasig had recommended; the little one 
was given up at Gurlitz, and I will not 
try to describe how the pretty little dear 
was handed from one to the other, with 
kisses and petting, and seemed in her un- 
comprehending innocence to find herself 
at home with the good people. Haber- 
mann drove on Rahnstadt, to see Moses. 

Moses was a man of about fifty. 
He had large, wise-looking eyes, under 
strong, black eyebrows, although his 
head was nearly white ; heavy eyelids 
and dark lashes gave him an aspect 
of mildness ; he was of middle size and of 
comfortable fulness ; his left shoulder was 
a little higher than his right, and that was 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


in consequence of his grip. When he got 
up from his stool, he stuck his left hand in 
his left coat pocket, and took hold of his 
breeches on the left side, which was al- 
ways slipping down ; for he wore but one 
suspender, and that was on the right side. 
“ What’s the use ? ” said he to his Bliim- 
chen, when she would persuade him to 
wear a second suspender. “ When I was 
young and poor and had no money, I man- 
aged my business with one suspender, and 
courted my Bliimchen with one suspender; 
and now that I am old and rich, and have 
money, and have Bliimchen, why do I 
need two suspenders ? ” And then he 
would pat his Bliimchen, give a grip at 
the left coat-pocket, and go back to his 
business. 

As Habermann entered he sprang up. 
“ O heavens ! it is Habermann. Haven’t 
I always told you,” turning to his son, 
“ Habermann is good, Habermann is an 
honest man ? ” 

“ Yes, Moses,” said Habermann, “ honest 
truly, — but ” 

“ Stand up, David, give the seat to Herr 
Habermann ; sit here by me. Herr Ha- 
bermann has something to say to me, 
and I have something to say to Herr Ha- 
bermann. Do you see ? ” he added to his 
son, “ David, what did you say ? ‘ I should 
declare myself before the Prussian Jus- 
tice/ What did I say ? ‘ I will not declare 
myself before the Prussian Justice ; Herr 
Habermann is an honorable man/ I 
declared myself once, it was in a business 
with a Prussian candidate. I had remind- 
ed the fellow of his debt, and he wrote me 
a letter, saying I should read a verse out 
of the Christian hymn-book, — David, 
what was it ? ” 

“ It was an infamous verse,” said 
David. 

“ * Moses cannot accuse me. 

My conscience knows no fears, 

For He who has pronounced me free 
Will pay all my arrears.’” 

“ Yes,” cried Moses, “ that was what he 
said. And when I showed the letter, the 
Prussian Justice laughed, and when I 
showed my note, he shrugged his shoul- 
ders and laughed again. ‘ Ha, Ha 1 I 
said, you mean the paper is good, but the 
fellow is good for nothing/ Then they 
said I had the right on my side. I could 
have him locked up, but it would cost 
something. ‘ Do you take me for a fool ? 
should I pay the fees and costs and sum- 
mons, and the whole lawsuit, merely to 
give that swine his fodder? Let him 
run!’ said I. No, Herr Habermann is 


21 

better for me than the Prussian Ju& 
tice.” 

“Yes, that is all very good, Moses,” 
said Habermann, anxiously, “but I can’t 
pay you, at least not at present.” 

“ No ? ” said Moses, and looked at him 
in a questioning way. “You must have 
kept something over ? ” 

“Not a red shilling,” said the farmer 
with emotion. 

“ Thou just Heaven I ” cried Moses, “not 
a red shilling!” and he sprang up and 
began ordering his son about. “David, 
what are you standing there for ? What 
are you looking at ? Why are you listen- 
ing ? Go and bring my book ! ” With 
that he began to walk restlessly up and 
down the room. 

“Moses,” said Habermann, “only give 
me time, and you shall have principal and 
interest to the last farthing.” 

Moses stood still, and listened with 
deep attention. “ Habermann,” said he at 
last, in Platt-Deutsch, — for these old- 
fashioned Jews, when anything goes to the 
heart, talk Platt-Deutsch, just like Chris- 
tians, — “ Habermann, you are an honora- 
ble man.” And as David came back with 
the book, the old man said, “ David, what 
do we want of the book ? Take the book 
away. Now, what is it ? ” turning to 
Habermann. “ I began with nothing, you 
also began with nothing, I had my busi- 
ness, you had yours, I had good luck, you 
had bad luck. I was industrious, you 
were industrious too, and you understood 
your business. What we can’t do to-day 
may be done to-morrow ; to-morrow you 
may again have a situation, and then you 
can pay me, for you are an honest 
man.” 

“ A situation ? ” said Habermann, with 
a much lighter heart, “ I have that already, 
and a good one, too.” 

“ Where ? ” asked Moses. 

“ With the Kammerrath, at Pumpel- 
hagen.” 

“ Good, Habermann, good ! He is a 
good man. Though he has had some ex- 
perience of the hard times, he is yet a 
good man ; he does no business with me, 
but he is a good man, for all that. Blurn- 
chen ! ” he cried at the door, “ Herr Haber- 
mann is here. Bring in two cups of cof- 
fee ! ” and as Habermann would have de- 
clined the coffee, he added, “Allow me, 
Herr Habermann, allow me ! When I 
was young, and went about the country 
with my pack, and it was cold weather, 
your mother has often given me a hot cup 
of coffee ; when you were inspector you 
have given me many a ride for nothing. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


22 


No, we are all human beings. Drink! 
H err Habermann, drink ! ” 

So this business also came out right, 
and as Habermann went back to Briisig 
that evening his heart was lighter, much 
lighter; and, as he that evening in bed 
thought over the events of the day, the 
thought came to him whether a beloved 
voice had not prayed for him, up above, 
and whether a beloved hand had not 
smoothed out the tangled skein of his 
future, that it might run henceforth with 
a clear thread. 

The next morning he reported himself 
at Pumpelhagen ; and when the Kammer- 
rath and his little son rode away, two 
days after, he found himself already ac- 
quainted with his new duties, and in full 
activity. And so he remained in quiet 
content for many years. Grief had with- 
drawn, and the joy he had was of the kind 
that a man does not enjoy alone, which he 
must share with his fellow-men. 

CHAPTER IV. 

In the field by the mill there was 
wheat again this year, as in the year in 
which Habermann took charge of the 
estate. The property was divided into 
eleven fields ; and eleven years had passed 
since that time. The inspector came out 
of the church, for it was Sunday, and he 
had been to hear the Pastor’s sermon, 
and to visit his little daughter. He went 
on foot along the path from the church, 
for the way was short, and the day was 
fine, the finest of midsummer weather; 
he went through his wheat-field, and one 
of the purest joys came over him, this, 
that one sees the visible blessing of God 
on what in human hope, but also in human 
uncertainty, his hands have sown. He 
was not enriched by the blessing, — that 
belonged to his master ; but the joy was 
his, and it made his heart light and his 
mind clear, and in the clear mind, joyous 
thoughts darted, like fish in a limpid 
brook. He whistled a merry tune to him- 
self, and almost laughed when he heard 
his own whistling, for such an outburst of 
mirth rarely happened to him. 

“ So,” said he, “ this is the eleventh year 
I have been over that field, and the worst 
is over ; yet once more ! then the oversee- 
ing shall be done by other eyes.” 

He took the way through the garden, 
which lay on high ground, and joined a lit- 
tle grove of oaks and beeches, where the 
drive and foot-path had been freshly 
cleared and raked out, for the Kammer- 
rath and his family were coming to-day, 
and had sent word that they might be ex- 


pected by the middle of the afternoon. As 
he came up the ascent he stood still and 
looked back over the wheat-field, and 
laughed to himself. “ Yes, it doesn’t look 
much as it did eleven years ago, when I 
let them mow it. This is something like ! 
This time we have had a better year. 
What will the old Herr say? Between 
now and harvest, there is some time yet, 
but the rape is now as good as sure. If 
he only hasn’t sold it all beforehand, 
again!” sighed he. “ The cuckoo knows ! ” 
and he recalled the sums which had been 
borrowed during these eleven long years. 
“ The old Herr will go no farther, and will 
go no farther ; but, God bless him, there 
are his five daughters, and two sons-in-law 
who drain him, and then the gracious lady, 
who believes because money is round that 
it must run away, and then the son — it 
must be very expensive in the Prussian 
cuirassiers ! Yes, the times are better 
than they were in my day ; but if a man 
once gets into a tight place — it is hard, 
and he looks too old altogether.” 

He had time to spare. To-day they 
were waiting dinner for the Herr Kammer- 
rath, although he had not given orders to 
that effect. “It wa,s proper to do so,” 
Habermann had said. “ Yes,” said he once 
more, and seated himself in the cool shade, 
“ he will rejoice over the wheat, and it will 
be a help to him, for it is worth something, 
and times are better than they were.” 

Yes, the times were tight again, for what 
are “the times,” for the North German 
people, and for all mankind, but long, long 
threads stretched far out over England 
and America and all the world, and knot- 
ted at the ends, and so managed that they 
lie sometimes quite slack, and whatever is 
fastened to them — and that is for our 
people almost the whole country — cannot 
move itself; and then again they are 
stretched tight, so that everything dances 
merrily back and forth, and all are shifted 
about, even in the remotest corners. 

In this little corner of the world also, 
the thread was stretched tight, and young 
Jochen’s porcelain pipe-bowl, and leaden 
tinder box, and his blue-painted corner- 
cupboard, and the waxed sofa, were all 
cleared out of the house, and the old crazy 
yellow coach out of the carriage-house; 
and in their place he had a meerschaum 
pipe adorned with silver, and a mahogany 
secretary, and an immense creature of a 
divan, in the living-room, and in the car- 
riage-house there was a vehicle which Br'a- 
sig always called the “ phantom,” because 
in looking at the bill he had taken an “ e ” 
for an “ n,” and an “ n ” for an “ m : ” and 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


23 


he was not far wrong, for the thing was 
almost of the kind one sees in a dream. 

And the same thread had also guided 
the hand of Briisig’s Herr Count, so that 
finally, after almost twenty years, he had 
given him in writing the desired permis- 
sion to marry, and also a bond promising 
“ a suitable pension for his old age.” 

And upon this thread, when it was 
slack, the little Frau Pastorin had caught 
herself, like a top which the boys rig up, 
and now that it was stretched she buzzed 
about her Pastor, and hummed daily in his 
ears ; when the minister’s meadow should 
be rented again, it would bring as good as 
double. And as Moses, at the close of the 
last year, added up his sum-total, and 
wrote underneath a little one and four 
great ciphers, the thread caught him by 
the arm, and the four ciphers changed to 
six. “ David, lay the book away,” said 
he, “ it balances.” 

But while these threads, as to how far 
apart the knots are, and how lightly they 
are stretched, are governed a good deal by 
human instrumentality, — even although 
the Lord is above, and superintends the 
whole, so that the slack-lying and the 
tight-stretching happen in moderation, 
and mankind are not left to lie still on a 
hillock and stick there, or get tangled and 
run wildly together, as when a sack full 
of peas is shaken about, — a single human 
being has as much volition on these 
threads as the chafer has on his, when the 
children play with it ; it can buzz about, 
here and there. Another thread, however, 
governs the world: it reaches from the 
highest to the lowest, and God himself has 
fastened the ends ; no chafers buzz on it, 
nor is it in any sense a game. This thread 
was twisted a little, and Zachary Briisig 
got a touch of the gout. It was stretched 
a little tighter, and the two old Niisslers 
lay on their last couch ; and then the knots 
at their end of the thread were cut, and 
they were buried. 

Zachary Briisig, indeed, scolded and fret- 
ted terribly when he felt the twitching, 
and in his ignorance did not understand, 
but blamed the new fashion of sewed 
dress-boots, and the damp, cold spring, 
for what he should have laid to the account 
of his hearty dinners and his usual little 
drop of Kiimmel. He was snappish as a 
horse-fly, and ITabermann would rally him, 
whenever he visited him in such a temper, 
about the writing in his possession which 
he had received from the Herr Count, 
granting him permission to marry and a 
pension, and then Briisig would be angry, 
terribly angry, and would say, “ Now just 


think, brother, in what an outrageous di- 
lemma that paper of the gracious Count 
places me ! If I want to marry, then says 
my gracious Count I am too young to 
need a pension, and if I ask for the pen- 
sion, then I must say to myself, I am too 
old to marry ! Oh ! my gracious Count is 
not much better after all than a regular 
Jesuit; he says the words and you see 
them under your eyes, but virtually he has 
put all sorts of mocking paragraphs in the 
paper, that a man who for eight and twenty 
years has worn out his bones in his service 
cannot request a pension without depre- 
ciating himself personally, or that a man 
who could have had three brides twenty 
years ago, now that he is fifty years old 
cannot marry one. Oh, I laugh at the 
gracious paragraphs and at the gracious 
Count ! ” 

One man’s owl is another man’s night- 
ingale. Brasig was spiteful over the 
twitching of the thread ; but in young 
Jochen’s house, after the knots were cut a 
guest entered, whom the young wife in- 
deed had many times invited at the door, 
but who had never before crossed the 
threshold, and that was Peace. Now he 
had established himself comfortably on the 
new divan, and ruled over the whole es- 
tablishment. The young woman cared for 
him, as if her nearest relative had come to 
the house, and the two little twin-apples 
did everything to please him, and young 
Jochen himself invited the guest in, and 
said it was all as true as leather, and did 
his duty as the head of the family. He 
continued to be monosyllabic, to be sure, 
and desired no other tobacco than Fleigen 
Markur, and did not trouble himself about 
the oversight of the farm. For, after the 
death of the old people, Habermann and 
Brasig had taken, the charge of out-door 
affairs quite out of his hands, and had 
changed the crops, and had introduced 
improvements, and because the old people 
had stowed away under the pillows, and 
in the stocking-box, and about the stove, 
and here and there in other places, many 
a bag of gold which they had forgotten to 
take with them, the business went very 
quickly and without much ceremony ; and 
as it was all dispatched young Jochen 
said, “ Yes, what shall I do about it ? ” and 
let things take their course. 

But the comfort and prosperity which 
surrounded him roused him up a good 
deal, and his natural kind-heartedness, 
which had so long been repressed by the 
avarice of the old people, became evident ; 
and, if he was a little rough about the head, 
it was no matter, — as the schoolmaster 


24 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


with the red vest said at the funeral : “ It 
is no matter, Herr Pastor, since the heart 
is not bad ! ” 

And how was it now with the Frau Pas- 
torin and her Pastor? There the Lord 
had touched the thread very lightly; he 
had done like young Jochen, he had said : 
“ What shall I do about it ; let things take 
their course ! ” And if the Pastor now and 
then perceived a little light touch on his 
arm, and looked around, it was only his 
little friendly wife who stood behind him, 
always with her dusting cloth, and polished 
away at his arm-chair, and asked whether 
he would have the perch fried or boiled ; 
and if his sermon happened to be about 
Peter’s wonderful draught of fishes, or 
the evangelist’s story of the meal of fish 
on the shore, then all sorts of foolish, un- 
christian thoughts would dart across his 
mind, of fried fish, and horse-radish, and 
butter to eat on it, so that he had some 
trouble in going on with his sermon, and 
sustaining the dignity of his office. But 
what were these little troubles, to which 
his Regina had accustomed him from the 
first, in comparison with his great joy? 

God bless me! I have just received 
from my friend the gardener, Juhlke, of 
Erfurt, a beautiful lily-bulb ; and now in 
the March sun the first leaves are sprout- 
ing, and my first thought in the morning 
is to see how much the leaves have 
sprouted during the night ; and I give it a 
little pull to find out how the roots are 
striking, and I move it away from the 
cool window to the warm stove, and back 
from the dark stove to the light window, 
in the blessed sunshine, and it is as yet 
only a green shoot springing out of the 
earth, with no sign of a flower-bud, and it 
is but a plant, and not a human life, and 
yet how I rejoice over its sprouting and 
growth and greenness! And the pastor 
had received also a beautiful lily-bulb 
from his friend the Gardener, the Lord in 
heaven, and he and his little wife had 
tended and watched it, and now a flower- 
bud was growing, a human flower-bud, and 
the warm May sun shone upon it, and the 
Frau Pastorin ran to her darling the first 
thing in the morning, and buzzed about 
her at noon, and rejoiced over her healthy 
appetite, and heaped another spoonful on 
her plate ; “ For,” said she, “ life must have 
something to live on.” And at evening, 
under the lindens before the door, she 
wrapped the little maiden under the same 
sheltering mantle with herself, on the side 
toward the warmth ; and when it was bed- 
time, then she gave her a good-night kiss : 
u God bless you, my daughter ; to-morrow 


morning early, at five o’clock, you must be 
up again ! ” 

And the Pastor’s first thought was also 
of her ; and he watched and waited as leaf 
after leaf was growing green, and gave 
her a prop at her side, and bound her to 
it that she might grow right up toward 
heaven, and kept away all weeds and nox- 
ious insects. And when he went to bed at 
night he would say, as full of hope as a 
child, “ Regina, she must blossom soon.” 

And so it came about, without the con- 
sciousness of the dear old people, or of 
the child herself, that she became the 
angel of the household, about whom 
everything turned, turned joyfully, without 
grumbling or snarling, without clashing or 
force. As she in her simple dress, with a 
little silk handkerchief tied around her 
neck, her fresh cheeks, and unbound, 
floating hair, went dancing up and down 
in her glee, she was a living spring of joy 
to the whole house ; and when she sat still 
beside her foster-father, and learned, and 
looked at him with her great eyes, as if 
there must be something still more beauti- 
ful to come, and at last with a deep sigh 
closed the book, as if it were a pity that 
it was all done, and yet at the same time 
good that it was all done, because the lit- 
tle heart could hold no more, — then the 
Frau Pastorin stole up behind her, in stock- 
ing feet, with her dusting-cloth under her 
apron, and her slippers lying at the door. 
“For,” said she, “ teaching children is a 
different thing from making sermons ; the 
old people are only affected now and then 
when one hits them right hard Avith hell- 
torments ; but a child’s soul, — one must 
touch that merely with a tulip-stalk, and 
not with a fence-pole ! ” 

Habermann’s little daughter was always 
fair, but she looked the fairest when, a 
step in advance, she held her father by 
the hand, and brought him into the par- 
sonage yard, where the good people sat 
under the great linden; then shone out 
all the virtues which usually sleep quietly 
in the human heart, and only noAv and 
then come to the light of day, — love and 
gratitude, joy and pride, — from her 
sprightly face ; and, if Habermann walked 
beside her silent and half-sad that he 
could do so little for his child, one could 
read in her eyes a sort of festal joy, as if 
she thought to discharge all the debt of 
gratitude which she owed her good foster- 
parents, by bringing to them her father. 
She was just entering her thirteenth year ; 
and her young heart took no reckoning of 
her feelings and actions, never in her life 
had she asked herself why her father Avaa 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


bo dear to her. It was otherwise with the 
Pastor and his wife, there she was daily 
conscious how kind and good were their 
intentions toward her, and she had daily 
opportunities of repaying their love by 
little acts of duty and friendliness. But 
here — she knew merely it was her father ; 
he spoke often to her words that must 
come from his heart, and he looked at her 
with such quiet, sad looks, that must go to 
her heart. Reckoning up all they had 
done, these good people had deserved 
more from her ; but yet — the Lord must 
have knit these human threads very closely 
together, up above, they run into each 
other so, and cannot be separated. 

To-day, as Habermann sat in the cool 
shade, it had been again a festival day for 
his child, and it was one for him also. He 
overlooked the whole region. The spring 
was over, the summer sun shone warm 
through the light, fleecy clouds; a light 
breeze cooled the air, and lifted the green 
corn into the sunlight, as if the earth were 
waving a green, silken banner before her 
commander, the sun. The regimental mu- 
sic, from the band of a thousand birds, 
had ceased with the spring, and only the 
cuckoo’s cry and the call of the quail still 
echoed, as if a puff of wind bore with it out 
of the distance the sound of drums and 
cymbals. But instead of music and sing- 
ing the wind brought over the fields a 
sweet odor which came indeed from a 
field of slaughter, where thousands and 
thousands of slain lay in rows and heaps, 
who knew nothing of bloody misery, how- 
ever, and were a pleasure to mankind : the 
hay-harvest had begun, and Habermann 
sat on the hill in the cool arbor, and over- 
looked the fields, far and near. How 
beautiful is such a region, where the fields 
in a thousand green and yellow stripes 
and bands stretch to the summits of the 
hills, and shine far around like a many- 
colored garment which industry has woven 
for the earth ! But it seems restless and 
anxious, when we tear the turf and the 
soil with digging and scratching, and 
every one has his own task, and troubles 
himself solely about the miserable profits 
he is to dig from his own little piece of 
earth, — and all these green and yellow 
bands and stripes only bear witness to our 
poverty. I know well it is not so, but it 
seems so. Here it is otherwise : far out to 
the blue forest extend the fields of one 
kind of grain ; the rape fields stretch them- 
selves out like a great sea in the golden 
morning sunlight ; broad pastures and 
slopes harbor the bright-colored cattle, 
and over the green meadows stretch in an 


25 

oblique direction the long rows of mowers 
in white shirt-sleeves ; everything is of a 
piece, all works together; and wherever 
one casts his eyes, he sees rest and security 
as the result of riches. I know right well 
it is not so, but yet it seems so. But that 
is an afterthought. The eye sees merely 
the riches and the rest, and these, in the 
cool shade, with the humming of bees and 
the playing of butterflies, sink softly into 
the heart. 

So was it to-day with Habermann ; he 
was in such a quiet, happy mood, and 
thankfully he thought over the last eleven 
years. All was good and growing better. 
He had paid his debts to Briisig and 
Moses, with his employer he stood on the 
best footing. His intercourse with him 
was almost confidential, for, although the 
Kammerrath was not at all in the habit of 
discussing his private affairs with every 
body, Habermann’s behavior was so per- 
fectly sure, he knew so exactly how to 
keep himself in his place, that the Kam- 
merrath often talked over matters with 
him, which pertained more to himself than 
to the farm ; of his family affairs, however, 
he had never spoken. It was to happen 
otherwise to-day. 

When the inspector had been sitting a 
little while, he heard a couple of carriages 
drive up before the door. “ Good heavens, 
they are coming ! ” he cried, and sprang 
up to go and receive the company. 

The Kammerrath came with his wife and 
three daughters and his son ; they were to 
stay six weeks on the estate, and enjoy the 
country air. “ Dear Herr Habermann,” 
said he, “ we have come upon you a little 
sooner than you expected, but my business 
at Rostock was dispatched more quickly 
than I believed possible. How is it here ? 
Is everything prepared for the ladies ? ” 

“ All is in readiness,” said Habermann, 
“but I fear the dinner may be a little 
late.” 

“ No misfortune ! The ladies can be mak- 
ing their toilet meantime, and you can 
show me our wheat. And,” turning to his 
son who stood at his side, a stately young 
man, in handsome uniform, “ you can take 
your mother and sisters into the garden, 
by and by, for in matters of domestic 
economy,” here he made a sickly attempt 
to laugh a little, “ you take no interest.” 

“ Dear father, 1 ” said the son, rather 

uneasily. 

“ No, let it go, my son,” said the father, 
in a friendly tone. “ Come, Herr Haber- 
mann, the wheat stands close behind the 
garden.” 

Habermann went with him. How old 


26 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


the man had become in so short a time ! 
And it was not age merely which seemed 
to weigh upon him, he seemed oppressed 
by some other burden. As he caught 
sight of his wheat, he became a little en- 
livened, and cried, “Beautiful, beautiful! 
I never thought to have seen such wheat 
in Pumpelhagen.’ 

That pleased Habermann, but, as is the 
way with these old inspectors, he did not 
let it be noticed, and because he was 
laughing inwardly, he scratched his head 
and said, “ If we can make sure of this on 
the hill, and it will be worth a good deal, 
and that down there by the meadow, the 
devil may have his game with the rest.” 

“ We cannot prevent what may still hap- 
pen,” said the Kammerrath. “ It is a real 
pleasure that you have given me to-day, 
dear Herr Inspector. Ah,” added he, after 
a little while, “ why didn’t we know each 
other twenty years ago ? It would have 
been better for you and for me ! ” 

Habermann no longer scratched his 
head; the trace of humor, which some- 
times lightened his serious disposition, was 
gone, and he looked anxiously at his mas- 
ter. They had come to the boundary of 
Gurlitz. “ The wheat over there doesn’t 
look so well as ours,” said the Kammer- 
rath. 

“ No,” said Habermann. “ The soil is 
quite as good as ours, however ; that is the 
Gurlitz Pastor’s field, but he has not re- 
ceived his due for it.” 

“ Apropos,” went on the Kammerrath, 
“ do you know that Gurlitz is sold ? A 
few days ago it was sold in Rostock for 
173,000 thalers. Farms are rising, isn’t it 
it so, Habermann, farms are rising consid- 
erably. If Gurlitz is worth 173,000 
thalers, Pumpelhagen would be a good 
bargain at 240,000 thalers ; ” and with 
that, he looked impressively at Haber- 
mann. 

“ That it would, Herr Kammerrath ; but 
the sale of Gurlitz means something else 
for you ; by contract, the Pastor’s field falls 
out of the estate, upon its sale, and it runs 
like a wedge into our land, — you must 
rent the Pastor’s field ! ” 

“ Ah, dear Habermann, don’t talk of my 
renting ! ” cried the Kammerrath, and 
turned about, and went slowly back, as if 
he might not look at the beautiful piece of 
land, “I have already too much on my 
shoulders. I have no desire for new 
trouble.” 

“ You should have no trouble about it. 
If you will give me authority, I will 
arrange the matter with the Herr Pastor.” 

“ No, no, Habermann, it won’t do ! The 


expenditure, the advance of rent, the in- 
creased inventory! I have besides so 
many expenditures, my hair stands on 
end ! ” and with that the man moved so 
wearily up the ascent, and stumbled so at 
at every stone, that Habermann sprang 
toward him, and offered him his arm ; 
close by the garden the Kammerrath had 
an attack of dizziness, so that Habermann 
was obliged to hold him up, and could 
scarcely get him into the arbor. Here, 
in the cool shade, he soon recovered from 
his attack; but his appearance was so 
altered that the inspector in this weak- 
spirited, broken man could hardly recog- 
nize his tranquil, decided friend of former 
years. The man became talkative, it 
seemed as if he must unburden his heart. 
“ Dear Habermann,” said he, and grasped 
his hand, “I have a favor to ask; my 
nephew Franz, — you used to know him, 
— has finished his studies, and is going to 
undertake the care of his two estates. 
He will follow my advice, — my deceased 
brother appointed me his guardian, — he 
means to become a practical farmer, and I 
have recommendad you to him as his in- 
structor. You must take the young man 
here, he is an intelligent youth, — he is a 
good fellow.” 

“ Yes,” said Habermann. That he would 
do gladly, and so far as in him lay it 
should not fail ; he had known the young 
man from a child, he was always a dutiful 
boy. 

“Ah,” cried the Kammerrath, “if my 
own boy had gone the same way! Why 
was I weak enough to yield to my wife 
against my better judgment? Nothing 
would do but he must be a soldier. But 
now it comes, now it comes, my old friend, 
we have got into debt, deeper than I can 
tell, for I see by his oppressed and shy 
manner, that he has not confessed all to 
me. If he would only do so, then I could 
know where I stood, and I could save him 
out of the hands of usurers. And if I 
myself should fall into those hands ! ” he 
added gloomily, after a little, in a weak 
voice. 

Habermann was frightened by the 
words and the tone, but still more by the 
appearance of his master. “It will not 
be so bad as that,” he said, for he must say 
something, “and then the Herr will yet 
have the receipts from about fifteen hun- 
dred bushels of rape ; for so I reckon the 
crop.” 

“ And for seventeen hundred bushels, 
which I have sold, I have already received 
the money, and it is already paid out ; but 
that is not the worst, we could get over 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


that. Ah, what a torment 1 ” cried he, as if 
he must shoulder his burden again. “ My 
business at Rostock is not all wound up, as 
I said to you before my family ; I have taken 
a debt for one of my sons-in-law, of seven 
thousand thalers, and cannot raise the 
money in Rostock, and in three days it must 
be paid. The money is promised to the pur- 
chaser of Gurlitz, and he is to pay the pur- 
chase money day after to-morrow. Give 
me your advice, old friend! You have 
been in similar circumstances, you know 
how you helped yourself — don’t take it 
ill of me ! you were always an honest 
man. But I cannot bear not to feel sure 
in my possessions or in my honourable 
name.” 

Yes, Habermann had been in such a 
condition, and he had failed for a couple 
of hundred thalers ; and this was seven 
thousand. 

“Have you spoken with the purchaser 
of Gurlitz V ” he asked, after some thought. 

“ Yes,” was the reply, “ and I told him 
the plain truth about my difficulties.” 

“ And what was the answer ? ” said 
Habermann. “ But I can imagine, he was 
in pressing need of money himself.” 

“ It was not that, as it seemed to me ; 
but the man seemed to have a spite against 
me, he was too short and abrupt, and 
when he noticed my embarrassment his 
offers were too crafty, so that I broke 
off the negotiation, because I still hoped 
to procure the money elsewhere. But 
that is at an end, and I find myself more 
embarrassed than ever.” 

“ I know of but one immediate resource,” 
said Habermann, “you must go and see 
Moses, at Rahnstadt.” 

“The Jew money-lender?” asked the 
Kammerrath. “ Never in the world ! ” 
cried he. “I could not bear to feel my- 
self in such hands. No, I will rather bear 
the insolence of Herr Pomuchelskopp.” 

“Who?” shouted Habermann, as if a 
wasp had stung him. 

“Why, the purchaser of Gurlitz, of 
whom we were speaking,” said the Kam- 
merrath, and stared at him as if he could 
not interpret his behavior. 

“And he is a Pomeranian, from the 
region on the Peene, short and stout, with 
a full face ? ” 

“ Yes,” said the Kammerrath. 

“ And he is going to be our neighbor ? 
And you would enter into business rela- 
tions with him? No, no, Herr Kammer- 
rath, I beg, I implore you, don’t allow 
yourself to get involved with that man ! 
You must bear me witness that I have 
never made mention, for good or for evil, 


27 ' 

of the man who has ruined me ; but now 
that you are in danger, now I hold it my 
duty, — this man is the cause of my mis- 
fortunes,” and with that he had sprung up, 
and from his usually tranquil, friendly 
eyes shot such a flash of hatred, that even 
the Kammerrath, absorbed as he was in 
his own affairs, was terrified. 

“ Yes,” cried the inspector, “ yes ! 
that man has driven me out of house and 
home, that man has heaped all sorts of 
tormenting anxieties upon me and my 
poor wife, and she has gone to her grave 
in consequence ! No, no I Have nothing 
to do with that man ! ” 

The warning was too impressive to be 
disregarded by the Kammerrath. “But 
who will help me ? ” asked he. 

“ Moses,” said Habermann, quickly and 
decidedly. The Kammerrath would make 
objections, but Habermann placed him- 
self before him, and said still more im- 
pressively, “ Herr Kammerrath, Moses I 
After dinner we will ride over there, and 
if I know him, you will have no reason to 
repent.” 

The Kammerrath stood up, and took.. 
Habermann’s arm ; he leaned not merely 
upon that — no, evidently he was also sus- 
tained by the resolute advice of the in- 
spector. For a quiet man, when he is 
once aroused from his repose, exercises a 
great influence upon another human being, 
even if he be not so ill and in such 
perplexity as the Kammerrath ; and differ- 
ence in rank goes down at the double- 
quick, in such an emergency, before per- 
sonal merit. 

The conversation at dinner was but feebly 
sustained, — every one was occupied with 
his own affairs ; Habermann thought of 
his new, suspicious neighbor, the Kammer- 
rath of his money affairs, and the lieuten- 
ant of cuirassiers looked as if he had lost 
himself in a calculation of compound inter- 
est, and could not find the way out ; and 
if the gracious mama had not mounted 
her high horse a little, and talked of the 
visits she must make to people of rank in 
the neighborhood, and the young ladies 
had not revelled in the prospect of coun- 
try delights and unlimited grass and flow- 
ers, it would have been as silent as a 
funeral. 

After dinner the Kammerrath drove 
with his inspector to Rahnstadt. As they 
stopped at the door of Moses’ house, the 
Kammerrath felt in much the same mood 
as if he had dropped a louis-d’or in the 
filth, and must stoop to pick it out with 
his clean hands. A musty odor met 
them, at the entrance, for a “produce 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


28 

business ” does not smell like otto of roses, 
and the wool, when it has just left the 
mother-sheep’s back, has quite a different 
smell from that which it has after it has 
been about the world a little, and got 
aired, and lies as a bright-colored carpet 
on a fine lady’s parlor, sprinkled with per- 
fume. 

And how disorderly it was in the pas- 
sage and in the room ! For Bliimchen was 
a very good wife, to be sure, but she did 
not understand how to ornament an en- 
try and a counter with a cow’s head and 
a heap of mutton-bones ; for Moses said 
shortly, that belonged to the business, 
and David was constantly bringing in new 
treasures and turned the house into a real 
rat’s paradise, for those pleasant little 
beasts run after the smell of a regular 
produce business, like doves after anise- 
seed oil. 

In the room, the Kammerrath did not 
find himself more agreeably disposed, for 
Moses was orthodox, and on the Christian 
Sabbath, unless his business demanded 
the contrary, he wore his greasiest coat, 
in order to keep himself quite opposed to 
the customs of the dressed-up Gentiles; 
and as he now, with his grip at his left 
coat-pocket, sprang up and ran toward the 
Kammerrath, — u O heavens ! the Herr 
Kammerrath ! the honor ! ” and shouted to 
David, who was improving the Sunday- 
afternoon quiet in the “ produce business ” 
by napping a little on the sofa, “ David, 
where are you sitting ? Where are you 
lying ? What are you lounging there for ? 
Stand up ! Let the Herr Kammerrath sit 
down,” and as he now endeavoured to 
force the Kammerrath into the place al- 
ready warmed by David, then would the 
Kammerrath gladly have left the louis- 
d’or lying in the dirt ; but — he needed it 
quite too pressingly. 

Habermann threw himself into the 
breach, and set a chair for the Kammer- 
rath by the open window, and undertook 
the first introduction of the business ; and 
as Moses observed what the talk was to 
be about, he hunted David about till he 
got him out of the room, — for although 
he let him do a good deal in the produce 
business, he did not consider him quite 
ripe, at six and thirty years, for the 
money business, — and when the air was 
free, — that is to say, of David, — he ex- 
claimed once and again, what a great hon- 
or it was for him to have dealings with the 
Herr Kammerrath. “ What have I always 
said, Herr Habermann ? ‘ The Herr Kam- 
merrath is a good man, the Herr Kammer- 
rath is good.’ What have I always said, 


Herr Kammerrath? “The Herr Haber- 
mann is an honest man ; he has toiled and 
moiled to pay me the last penny.’ ” 

But as he perceived of what a sum they 
were speaking, he was startled, and held 
back, and made objections, and if he had 
not held Habermann in such high esteem, 
and read plainly in his looks that he seri- 
ously advised him to the business, then in- 
deed nothing might have come of it. And 
who knows but the matter might still 
have fallen through, if it had not been 
mentioned casually that the money was to 
go for the purchase of Gurlitz, and that 
otherwise the Kammerrath must enter into 
negotiations with Pomuchelskopp. But 
as this name was uttered, Moses made a 
face, as if one had laid a piece of tainted 
meat on his plate, and he cried out, “ With 
Pomuffelskopp ! ” for he pronounced the 
name in that way, “Do you know what 
sort of fellow he is ? He is like that ! ” 
and with that he made a motion as if he 
would throw the bit of tainted meat over 
his shoulder. “ 1 David,’ said I, ‘ don’t have 
anything to do with Pomuffelskopp ! ’ But 
these young people, — David bought some 
wool of him. ‘ Well ! ’ said I ; ‘ you will 
see,’ I told him. And what had he done ? 
There he had smuggled in with the washed 
wool the tangles, the wool from dead ani- 
mals, he had smuggled in dirty wool from 
slaughtered sheep, he had smuggled in 
two great field-stones. Two great field- 
stones had he smuggled in for me ! When 
he came to get his money — ‘ Good ! ’ said 
I — I paid him in Prussian treasury notes, 
and I made little packets of a hundred 
thalers, and in the middle of each packet I 
smuggled in some that were no longer in 
circulation, or counterfeit, and in the last 
packet I laid in two played-out lottery- 
tickets — ‘ Those are the two great field- 
stones,’ said I. Oh, but didn’t he make an 
uproar ? When he came with the Notary 
Slus’uhr, — he is such an one to look at,” 
— here he again threw the bit of tainted 
meat over his shoulder, — “ like one of 
David’s rats, — his ears stand out, and 
he lives so well, he lives just like the rats, 
feeds on rubbish and filth, and gnaws 
open other people’s honest leather. Oh, 
but they made a disturbance, they would 
bring a lawsuit against me 1 ‘ What is a 

lawsuit ? ’ said I ; ‘ I don’t have lawsuits. 
As the ware is, so is the money.’ And do 
you know, gentlemen, what else I said? 

‘ The Herr Notary, and the Herr Pomu- 
ffelskopp and I are three Jews, but four 
might be made of us if the two gentlemen 
could count for three.’ Oh, they made an 
uproar ! They abused me all over the 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


29 


city. But the Herr Burgomeister said to ' 
me, 1 Moses, you do a great business, but you 
have never yet had a law-suit, let them 
work ! ’ Herr Kammerrath, you shall have 
the money to-day, at your offer, of com- 
mission and interest, for you are a good 
man, and you treat your people well, and 
you have a good name in the land, and 
vou shall not have to deal with Pomuffels- 
kopp.” 

To borrow money is a hard piece of 
work, and he who writes this knows it by 
many years’ experience, and can speak of 
it accordingly ; but it makes a difference 
whether one appeals to the kindness of an 
old friend, or turns to a man who makes a 
business of this business. The Kammer- 
rath had debts on his estate, quite a num- 
ber of debts ; but they were not signifi- 
cant bills of exchange, and his money 
affairs had usually been arranged by writ- 
ing, or through the medium of lawyers or 
merchants ; he was now for the first time 
not in a situation to raise money easily, in 
the old way, he had been obliged to go 
himself to a money-Jew — for so he called 
this sort of people ; the repulsion which he 
felt for this course, the very different place, 
and manner, and disposition which he 
found here, the anxiety caused by the ob- 
jections of Moses at the outset, and now 
at last the speedy help which relieved him 
from his pressing emergency, had over- 
powered the sick man ; he turned pale and 
sank back in his chair, and Habermann 
called for a glass of water. 

“ Herr Kammerrath,” cried Moses, “ per- 
haps a little drop of wine, I can have half 
a pint brought from the merchant, in a 
moment.” 

“ No, water ! water 1 ” cried Habermann, 
and Moses ran out of the door, and nearly 
upset David, — for David had been listen- 
ing a little to the money business, in order 
that he might finally become ripe, — 
“David what are you doing, why don’t 
you bring some water ? ” 

And David came, and the Kammerrath 
drank water, and recovered himself, and 
Moses told out the louis-d’ors on the table, 
and the Kammerrath picked them out of 
the dirt, and looked at his hands, and they j 
seemed quite as clean as before ; and as he 1 
got into the carriage, and looked back | 
from it into Moses’ entry, it seemed to j 
him as if among Moses’ pelts and mutton 
bones, there was a great bundle, and that 
was his own trouble. And Moses stood in 
the door, and bowed and bowed, and 
looked round at his neighbors to find 
whether they saw that the Herr Kammer- 
rath had been to him. 


I But for all the great honor, he did not 
I sink under it. He held up his head, and 
got Habermann aside, and said, “ Herr 
Inspector, you are an honest man ; when 
I agreed to this business, I did not know 
the man was so sick. You must promise 
me that the money shall be secured on the 
estate. It is a matter of life and death. 
What am I doing with a sick man and a 
note ! ” 

The Kammerrath was relieved from his 
embarrassment ; his agitation subsided, 
his health improved, he looked at the 
world with quite different eyes ; and as 
Habermann, a few days later, again men- 
tioned the renting of the Pastor’s field, he 
listened, and gave Habermann permission 
to talk with Pastor Behrens. He did so, 
and during the interview the little Frau 
Pastorin bustled about in the room, and 
it sounded in the ears of the Pastor and 
Habermann continually, — “A higher sum 1 
A higher sum ! ” 

“Yes,” said Habermann, “that is un- 
derstood. Frau Pastorin, the rent must 
be raised ; times are better, but there will 
be no difficulty in the matter, — the ad- 
vantage lies on both sides.” 

“ Regina,” said her Pastor, “ it occurs to 
me that the flowers at the end of the gar- 
den have not been watered.” 

“ Ah, my ddar life I ” cried the Pastorin, 
and bustled out of the door, “the flow- 
ers I ” 

“ So,” said the Pastor, “ now we can 
soon settle it. I must confess to you, that 
I prefer to have a renter from outside, 
rather than one belonging to the place ; 
there are so many little differences which 
spring from such immediate neighborhood, 
and make such a relation so doubtful and 
annoying, as it ought not to be between 
landlords and ministers. And the Kam- 
merrath is personally much dearer to me 
than the new owner, — I have known him 
so many years. And you think I may de- 
mand a higher rent ? ” 

“Yes, indeed, Herr Pastor, and I am 
authorized to offer you the half more. If 
I wished to rent the land myself, I could 
offer you still more ; but ” 

“ We understand each other, dear Hab- 
ermann,” said the Pastor, “ we are agreed 
in the matter.” 

And when the Frau Pastorin again 
bustled in with the little Louise, and cried 
out, “It was not necessary! Louise had 
already attended to the matter ! ” then 
was her Pastor’s business all settled, and 
the dear little Louise, hung around her 
father’s neck : “ Ah, father, father, that is 
so good ! ” Why should she hang about 


30 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


her father’s neck? What had she to do 
with rent-contracts ? Much, much ! Her 
father would now be a little nearer to 
the Pastor’s garden, ploughing and har- 
vesting, and she should see him the of- 
tener. 

As Habermann went back through the 
churcli-yard, he met Zachary Brasig, who 
had passed happily, out of his dreadfully 
unphilosophical stage of the gout, into the 
philosophical, as generally happened when 
his troubles were over. “ Good-day, Karl,” 
said he, “ I have been in your quarters a 
while waiting for you. But the time 
seemed long, so I made my compliments, 
meanwhile, to the Herr Kammerrath. He 
was very glad to see me, and treated me 
with the greatest kindness ; but how the 
man looks ! ” 

Yes, said Habermann, his master had — 
God bless him — grown very old and 
weak, and he for his part feared he was 
soon to lose the friend he esteemed so 
highly. 

“ Yes,” nodded Br'asig, “ but what is 
life, Karl ? What is human life ? See 
here, Karl, turn it over and over, like a 
leather money-bag, and not a shilling falls 
out.” 

“ Brasig,” said Habermann, “ I don’t 
know what other people think about it, 
but it seems to me as if life and labor were 
one and the same.” 

“ Ho, ho, Karl ! now I hear you run on ; 
you got that sentence from Pastor 
Behrens. He has sometimes talked with 
me on this subject, and he has given me a 
description of human life, as if here below 
it was merely the manuring time, and the 
Christian belief was the sun and the rain, 
which made the seed grow, and there 
above, in the upper regions, came the 
harvest; but man must work, and take 
pains and do his part. But Karl, it don’t 
agree, it goes against the Bible. The 
Bible tells about the lilies of the field; 
they toil not, and they spin not, and yet 
our Heavenly Father cares for them. And 
if our Lord takes care of them, then they 
live, and they don’t labor, and when I have 
this infamous gout and do nothing, — noth- 
ing at all but hunt away the cursed, tor- 
menting flies from my face, — is that 
labor ? and yet I live under the good-for- 
nothing torture. And Karl,” said he, and 
pointed to the right across the field, “ see 
those two lilies, that are picking their way 
over here, your gracious Herr Lieutenant, 
and the youngest Fraulein, have you ever 
heard that the lieutenant of cuirassiers 
troubled himself with labor, or that the 
gracious Fraulein did any spinning ? And 


yet they are both coming, with living bod* 
ies, over your rape-stubble.” 

“ Will you wait a moment, Zachary ? " 
said Habermann ; “ they are coming in this 
direction, possibly they wish to speak to 
us.” 

“ For all me ! ” said Brasig. “ But just 
look at the Fraulein, how she wades through 
the rape-stubble with her long skirts and 
her thin shoes ! No, Karl, life is trouble 1 
And it begins always with the extremities, 
with the legs, and you may observe that 
with me from my confounded gout, and in 
the case of the Fraulein by the rape-stubble 
and her thin shoes. But what I was going 
to say, Karl — you have had your best 
time here, for when the Herr Kammerrath 
is dead, there look out! You will be 
astonished at the gracious lady, and the 
three unmarried daughters, and the Herr 
Lieutenant. Karl,” he began again, after 
a little thought, “I would hold to the 
crown-prince.” 

“ Eh, what ! Brasig, what are you talking 
about ? ” said Habermann, hastily, “ I shall 
go right on my way.” 

“Yes, Karl, so should I, and so would 
every body who was not a Jesuit. But 
look at the gracious Fraulein once more 1 
She goes right on her way too, but through 

the rape-stubble. Karl ” But the 

young people were too near, he could say 
no more ; only in an aside he added, “ A 
Jesuit? No! But he is a vocative.” 

“I thank you, Herr Habermann, that 
you have waited here for me,” said Axel 
von Rainbow, as they came up. “ My 
sister and I are bound on two different ex- 
peditions ; she is seeking corn-flowers, and 
I colts ; she has found no corn-flowers, and 
I no colts.” 

“Gracious lady,” said Br'asig, “if you 
mean by corn-flowers our common field 
blossoms, — but,” he interrupted himself, 
“how this infamous stubble has ruined 
your pretty dress, all the flounces torn 
off! ” and with that he bent down as if he 
would render the young lady the service 
of a maid. 

“ No matter ! ” cried the Fraulein, draw- 
ing back a little, “ it is an old dress. But 
where are the corn-flowers ? ” 

“ I will show you, — it is a real pleasure, 
— here close by, near Gurlitz, corn- 
flowers, and scarlet-runners, and white- 
thorn, and thistle-blows, — in short, a 
whole plantation.” 

“ That will do nicely, dear Fidelia,” said 
the lieutenant. “You go with the Herr 
Inspector Brasig for the corn-flowers, and 
I beg Herr Habermann to accompany me 
to see the colts. For, do you know,” said 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


31 


he to Habermann, “ my good old papa was ; 
in such a good humor this morning, that 
he has given me permission to select the 
best of the four-year-old colts for my own 
use.” 

“ I will show you the animals with pleas- 
ure,” said Habermann, “there are some 
fine fellows, among them.” 

So the two companies separated, and 
Habermann only heard further how Brasig 
said to the Fraulein Fidelia he was very 
glad to make her acquaintance, because he 
had once had a dog which was also named, 
“ Fidele,” and she was a famous rat- 
catcher ! 

Habermann went with the Herr Lieu- 
tenant toward the colt-paddock. They 
talked together, naturally about farming 
matters, — the lieutenant was a lively 
young fellow, and Habermann had known 
him from childhood, — but the man had 
learned nothing about them, all his views 
were too far beyond, and none of his ques- 
tions were to the point, so that Haber- 
mann said to himself, “ He is good natured, 
very good-natured, but he knows nothing, 
and yet — God bless him — when the old 
Herr is gone, he must take the estate, and 
make his living off it 1 ” 

As they were come to the paddock, and 
had mustered the colts, the lieutenant 
placed himself before Habermann, and i 
asked, “Now, what do you say? which 
shall I take ? ” 

“ The brown,” said Habermann. 

“ I would rather choose the black. Look 
at the beautiful neck, the fine head l ” 

“ Herr von Rambow,” said Habermann, 
“you don’t ride on head and neck, you 
ride on back and legs ; you want a horse 
for use, and the brown is worth three of 
the black.” 

“ There seems to be English blood in the 
black.” 

“That is true, he is descended from 
Wildfire; but there is old Mecklenburg 
blood in the brown, and it is a shame that 
one should let that go, — that one should 
not value the good which the fatherland 
offers, and exchange them for English 
racers.” 

“ That may be true,” said Axel, “ but in 
our regiment my comrades have only black 
horses, — I decide for the black.” 

That was a reason which Habermann 
did not rightly understand, so he was si- 
lent, and as they went back, the conversa- 
v tion was a little one-sided; but as they 
were near the house — right before the 
door, as if he had spared himself to the 
last moment — the lieutenant held back 
the inspector, and with a deep sigh, as if 


he would shake off a burden from his heart, 
he said, “ Habermann, I have long wished 
to speak to you privately. Habermann, I 
have debts, — you must help me ! It is 
nine hundred dollars that I must pay, I 
must have it.” 

That was a hard request for Habermann, 
but in truly serious business, age makes 
itself respected ; he looked the young man 
of three-and-twenty full in the face, and 
said shortly, “ Herr von Rambow, I cannot 
do it.” 

“ Habermann, dear Habermann, I have 
such pressing need of the money.” 

“ Then you must tell your father.” 

“ My father ? No, no ! He has already 
paid debts for me, and now he is sick, it 
would vex him too much.” 

“ Still you must tell him. Such business 
must not be done with strange people, it 
should be settled between father and son.” 

“ Strange people ? ” asked Axel, and 
looked him so beseechingly and affection- 
ately in the eye, “ Habermann, am I then 
so strange to you ? ” 

“ No, Herr von Rambow, no ! ” cried 
Habermann, and grasped after the young 
man’s hand, but did not reach it. “ You 
are not strange to me. Anything that I 
could do for you, I would do quickly. The 
matter itself is a little thing, and if I could 
not do it alone, my friend Brasig would 
help me out ; but dear Herr von Rambow, 
your father is your natural helper, this 
step ought not to be delayed.” 

“I cannot tell my father,” said Axel, 
plucking at a willow-bush. 

“Yourawsi tell him,” said Habermann as 
impressively as he could. “ He suspects 
that you have concealed debts from him, 
and it troubles him.” 

“ Has he spoken to you about it ? ” 

“ Yes, but only in consequence of his own 
great embarrassment, which is known to 
you.” 

“ I know,” said Axel, “ and I know also 
the spring at which he has pumped. Well, 
what my father does, I can do also,” added 
he coldly and shortly, and went in at the 
court-yard gate. 

“ Herr von Rambow,” cried Habermann, 
and followed him hastily, “ I beseech you, 
for heaven’s sake, not to take this course ; 
it will be in vain, or it will only plunge 
you into greater difficulty.” 

Axel did not listen. 

A couple of hours later, the Lieutenant 
von Rambow stood with Moses among the 
woolsacks and the hides in the entry of 
the Jew's house, — where David had hia 
pleasure among the mutton-bones, like a 
bug in a rug, — and was making apparently 


32 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


a last, despairing attack upon Moses’ cau- 
tious money-bags; but Moses held firmly 
to the decision: “Really and truly, Herr 
Baron, I can not. Now, why not, then? 
Why should I not ? I can still serve you, 
I can still serve you well in the business. 
See, Ilerr Baron, there stands David. 
David where are you, what are you star- 
ing at ? Come here, David. You see, Herr 
Baron, there he stands, — he stands before 
you and he stands before me. I will not 
wink, I will not blink, I will go into the 
other room; now you may ask David.” 
And with that, he shoved himself with his 
right suspender-shoulder, back into the 
room. 

The poor lieutenant’s business must 
stand a bad chance if he had to settle it 
with David, for if he looked in his shining 
uniform as if he were riding before the 
king’s carriage, David’s outside looked as 
shabby as if he had been in the marl and 
dirt-cart. But this business depended less 
on a stately outside, than on who could 
best get the cart out of the mud, and at 
that David was terribly expert. He had 
three things in and about himself which 
stood him in good stead ; in the first place 
he had a particularly gorgeous Jew-lubber 
face, and as he stood there before the lieu- 
tenant, and chewed cinnamon-bark, which 
he stole out of his mother’s pantry, on ac- 
count of the evil odor of the business, and 
with his head askew, and his hands in his 
ockets, stared at him, he looked as impu- 
ent as if the spirits of all the dead and 
gone rats, through the long years of the 
produce business, had entered into him; 
and then, in the second place, his feelings 
were tough, much tougher than his father’s, 
and they were not softened by his daily 
intercourse with the toughest business in 
the world, with wool, and hides, and flax ; 
and, thirdly, he could make himself as re- 
pulsive as he pleased to any one, thanks to 
this same business. 


With such a happily gifted being, the 
lieutenant could not pull at the same rope. 
He went very shortly, with a heavy heart, 
out of the door; and David was so re- 
joiced over his own stylo and manners, that 
he became really compassionate, and he 
gave him on his way the Christian advice 
that he should go to the Notary Slus’uhr. 
“ He has it,” said he, “ and he can do it.” 

Scarcely was the young man out of the 
door, when Moses sprang out of the room ; 
“ David, have you a conscience ? I will tell 
you some news ; you have none ! How 
could you send that young man among 
those cut-throats ? ” 

“ I have only sent him to his own peo- 
ple,” said David, churlishly ; “ if he is a 
soldier, he is a cut-throat himself. If the 
notary cuts his throat, what do you care ? 
And if he cuts the notary’s throat, what do 
I care ? ” 

“ David,” said the old man, and shook his 
head, “ I say, you have no conscience.” 

“ What is a conscience ? ” muttered Da- 
vid to himself ; “ when you are doing busi- 
ness, you drive me away ; when you won’t 
do business, you call me in.” 

“ David,” said the old man, “ you are still 
too young ! ” and went into the room. 

“If I am too young now,” said David 
spitefully, “ I shall always be too young ; but 
I know a place where I am not too young.” 

With tnat, he put on another coat, and 
went the same way that the lieutenant had 
gone, to the Notary Slus’uhr’s. 

What he had to do there, and what else 
was done there, I know not. I know merely 
that the young Herr von Rambow, the same 
evening at Pumpelhagen, wrote a number 
of letters, and sealed up money in them ; 
and that when he had finished, he sighed 
deeply, as if he had thrown off a burden. 
The first necessity was met; but he had 
done like the old woman in the story, he 
had heated water in the kneading-trough. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


33 


CHAPTER Y. 

A couple of days later, the sun looked 
down in the morning right out of a rain- 
cloud, over the landlord’s garden at Giir- 
litz. Her daughter, the Earth, had been 
having a great washing, and now she 
would help her dear child a little with the 
drying. It was, as it is always, a great 
pleasure to see the old mother settle her- 
self to the task, and with her broad, 
friendly face peer out, now here, now there, 
from the white cloud-curtain, and again 
grasp the sprinkler, to dampen the 
bleached clothes a little more. On such 
an occasion she was always very sportive ; 
she had the drollest fancies, and played as 
many tricks in her old age as the youngest 
girl, when she is beloved for the first time, 
— now she was sad enough to cry, and 
again she laughed heartily. 

To-day, moreover, the old woman had 
reason to laugh, as she looked down into 
the Gurlitz garden. “ Now, just look 
there ! ” cried she, and smiled right goldenly 
over the meadow and the green corn, “ how 
strangely things go on in this crazy 
world 1 For long years I have always seen 
down there that pretty, white fellow 
standing, and holding out a staff to me, 
that the poor hungry creatures of the hu- 
man race might be able to know when it 
was mid-day, and time for their dinners ; 
and now there stands in his place a stout, 
malicious-looking beast, with green 
breeches, smoking tobacco. Nowhere do 
things go on so strangely as in the world ! ” 
And with that the old woman laughed 
from the bottom of her heart over the 
landlord Herr Pomuchelskopp, who stood 
in his yellow nankeen coat and green plaid 
trowsers, by the sun-dial, in the very place 
where the handsome heathen god, Apollo, 
had stood, only instead of a lyre he had a 
short pipe in his hand ; and yet a shadow 
often passed over her face when her eyes 
fell on her handsome, friendly secretary, 
who had for so many years recorded her 
doings with his pencil, and now lay among 
burdocks and nettles in the grass. But 
she had to laugh again, for all that. 

Pomuchelskopp laughed also ; . there 
were no indications of mirth in his face, 
but, whenever, from the height which his 
short stature allowed, he looked around 
him, he laughed in his heart : “ All mine ! 
All mine ! ” The sunbeam which bright- 
ened the world was not noticed by him, 
it touched neither his face nor his heart ; 
the sunbeam which shone for him was 
properly a sum in arithmetic, which 
warmed his heart, but there were no signs 
3 


of it in his face ; there must be a joke, an 
actual joke, to make him laugh outwardly, 
and that was not wanting at the present 
moment. 

His two youngest children, Nanting and 
Philipping, had come out, and Philipping 
had made a rod of burdocks and nettle 
stalks tied together, and was flogging the 
poor, white heathen god, so that Father 
Pomuchelskopp laughed heartily ; and 
Nanting ran into the kitchen and brought 
a coal, to give him a pair of moustaches, 
but his father would not allow this. 
“ Nanting,” said he, “ let that go, it might 
disfigure him, and we may possibly be able 
to sell him yet. But you may beat him,” 
— and they did beat him, and Father 
Pomuchelskopp laughed as if he would 
shake himself out of his green trowsers. 

Meanwhile the “Madam” also walked 
out, the dryer half of Pomuchelskopp. 
She was of an extremely tall figure, and 
as dry as the seven lean kine of King Pha- 
raoh. Her eyebrows were always 
puckered up into wrinkles, as if the cares 
of the whole world weighed o’er her mind, 
or her forehead was drawn into peevish 
lines above her nose, as if all the crockery 
broken by the maid-servants in this world, 
during a whole year, had belonged to her ; 
and her mouth looked as sour as if she had 
drank vinegar and fed on sorrel all her 
days. She wore in the morning at this 
warm season of the year, a black merino 
over-sack, which she had once bought in a 
time of mourning and still wore; and 
through the day, cotton garments dyed 
olive-green with alder-bark, and to make 
up for the extravagance of Pomuchels- 
kopp’s new blue dress-coat with bright 
buttons, she bundled up her head with old 
bandages and caps, out of which her anx- 
ious face peered like a half-starved mouse 
out of a bunch of tow ; and about the rest 
of her body she heaped one old thing 
above another, till her poor little legs 
looked like a couple of pins lost in a bun- 
dle of rags. However, I would advise 
every servant to keep out of her way, for 
even when her poor bones flew around 
frivolously on velvet and silken wings, her 
troubled soul was anxiously reckoning the 
expense and the wearing out. 

She was such a mother as one reads of 
in books, — she planned day and night how 
she might make over Malchen’s coat into 
an under-jacket for Philipping; she loved 
her children according to the Scriptures, 
and chastened them in like manner, and 
Nanting could often show for one spot on 
his jacket two on his back, and for every 
one on his trousers two on the flesh they 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


34 

covered. Yes, she was strong against her- 
self and against her own flesh and blood, 
but she could rejoice also, according to the 
scriptures, with moderation ; and, as she 
came out to-day, and saw the joyous activ- 
ity of her youngest offspring, there flew 
over her face such a hopeful fight as when 
the February sun looks down on the fast- 
frozen soil, and says, “ Patience I there 
will be a good crop of potatoes here this 
year.” 

And she was also such a wife as one 
reads of in books ; no neighbor could 
charge her with neglecting her duties a 
hair’s breadth in thought, word or deed, 
all her days, although Pomuchelskopp was 
in her opinion quite light-minded, be- 
cause often when joking was going on he 
would laugh right out loud, which she 
thought unbecoming in the father of a 
family, and she feared he would at length 
ruin his fortunes and bring herself and 
her children to beggary. She did another 
thing, which the minister had not incul- 
cated at her betrothal, — she condemned 
his failings, and gave him daily of her 
own vinegar to drink and of her sorrel 
to eat. She tutored him — that is to say 
when they were alone — as she did her 
youngest child, her Philipping, and as if 
Pomuchelskopp still wore his green plaid 
trousers fastened behind; in short, she 
drove him just as she pleased. She did 
not beat him — God forbid ! all was with 
dignity. Merely by her manner of speak- 
ing, she knew how to express her opinion 
of him : if he was unusually frivolous, she 
called him sharply and shortly by the last 
syllable of his name, just “ Kopp I ” ordi- 
narily she called him by the middle syl- 
lable, “Muchel,” and when he was quite 
after her own heart, and sat sulkily in 
the sofa-corner striking at the flies, she 
called him by the first syllable, and in an 
affectionate tone, “ Poking.” 

She did not call him “ Poking ” to-day. 
“ Kopp ! ” said she, on account of his 
light-minded behavior with the children, 
“ Kopp, why do you stand there smoking 
like a chimney? I think we should call 
at the Pastor’s.” 

“ My Kliicking,” said Pomuchelskopp, re- 
luctantly taking the pipe from his mouth, 
“ we can go. I will put on my dress-coat 
directly.” 

“ Dress-coat ! Why so ? Do you think 
I shall dress up in black silk ? It is only 
our Pastor.” She emphasized the “ our,” 
as if she had spoken of her shepherd, and 
as if she considered the Pastor merely 
their hired servant. 

“ Just as you please, my Hauhning, said 


1 Pomuchelskopp, “ I can put on my brown 
overcoat. Philipping, let the beating go ; 
Mama doesn’t like it.” 

“ Kopp ! let the children alone, attend 
to yourself. You can keep on your nan- 
keen coat, it is clean and good.” 

“My Kliicking,” said Pomuchelskopp, 
“ always noble, my dear Kliicking 1 If we 
owe nothing to the Pastor’s family, we 
owe something to ourselves. And, if 
Malchen and Salchen are going too, they 
must dress themselves up, and then we will 
set out.” 

This argument gained Pomuchelskopp 
the permission to array himself in his 
brown overcoat. He was so rejoiced at 
having carried his point, a thing which 
did not often happen, that in his grati- 
tude he desired to confer some pleasure 
upon his Kliicking, and make her a 
sharer in his own satisfaction ; for no one 
must do Pomuchelskopp the injustice to 
suppose that he was overbearing in his 
own house, — no 1 there he was rather 
humble and depressed. He pointed, 
therefore, across the fields and said, 
“Just look, that is all ours I ” 

“Muchel, you point too far,” said the 
lady shortly ; “ all that over yonder be- 
longs to Pumpelhagen.” 

“ You are right, that is all Pumpel- 
hagen. But” — he added, and the little 
eyes looked greedily towards Pumpel- 
hagen, “who knows? If God spares my 
life, and I sell my property in Pomerania 
at a good bargain, and times continue 
good, and the old Kammerrath dies, and 

his son gets into debt ” 

“Yes, Muchel,” interrupted his'^wife, 
and across her face flitted that derisive 
gleam, which was the only approach to 
a smile ever seen on it, “ yes, just as old 
Strohpagel said : ‘ If I were ten years 
younger, and hadn’t this lame leg, and 
hadn’t a wife — you should see what a 
fellow I would be ! ’” 

“ Hauhning,” said Pomuchelskopp, mak- 
ing a face as if he were grieved to the 
heart, “how can you talk so? As if I 
wished to be rid of you ! Without the 
thirty thousand dollars, which your father 
left you, I never could have bought Giir- 
litz. And what a fine estate Gurlitz is ! 
See ! this is all Giirlitz ! ” and he pointed 
again over the fields. 

“ Yes, Kopp,” said his wife, in a hard 
tone, “all but the Pastor’s fiffd, which 
you have let slip out of your fingers.” 

“ Ah, Kliicking,” said Pomuchelskopp, 
as they left the garden, “ always the Pas- 
tor’s field 1 what can I do ? See, I am an 
honest, straight-forward man ; what can 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


35 


I do against such a pair of sly old fellows 
as Habermann and the Pastor ? But the 
day is not over yet, Monsieur Haber- 
mann! We shall have something to say 
to each other yet, Herr Pastor ! ” 

At the Pastor’s house, this morning, 
three pretty little girls were sitting in the 
Frau Pastorin’s neat parlor, busy as bees, 
their fingers sewing and their tongues 
chatting at the same time, and looking, 
amid the white linen, as fresh and red as 
ripe strawberries on a white plate ; these 
were Louise Habermann and the little 
twins, Mining and Lining Niissler. 

“ Children,” said the little, round Frau 
Pastorin, as she now and then looked in 
from the kitchen, “ you cannot think what 
a pleasure it is to me in my old age, when 
I put away my clean linen in the linen- 
trunk, and think with every piece when 
it was spun and when it was sewed ! And 
how prudent it makes one, to know for 
oneself how much pains it has cost ! Mi- 
ning, Mining, your seam is crooked ! Good 
heavens, Louise ! I believe you are look- 
ing off half the time, yet you sew right 
along, and get no knots in your thread. 
But now I must go and take up the pota- 
toes, for my Pastor will be here soon,” 
and with that she ran out of the door, 
looking back, however, to say, “Mining 
and Lining, you must stay here to dinner 
to-day 1 ” And so she flew from the 
kitchen to the parlor, and from the parlor 
back to the kitchen, like the pendulum of 
a clock, and kept everything in running 
order. 

But how came Lining and Mining Niiss- 
ler to be in the Frau Pastorin’s sewing- 
school ? It happened in this way. 

When the little twins had got so far that 
they could speak the “ r ” plainly, and no 
longer played in the sand, and ran after 
Frau Niissler all day long, saying, “ Mother, 
what shall we do now ? ” then Frau Niiss- 
ler said to young Jochen that it was 
high time the children went to school; 
they must have a governess. Jochen had 
no objections, and his brother-in-law, the 
Rector Baldrian, undertook the task of 
procuring one. When she had been six 
months at Rexow, Frau Niissler said she 
was a cross old thing, she scolded the little 
girls from morning to night and made 
them so skittish that they did not know 
how to behave ; she must go. Thereupon 
Kaufman Kurz looked up another; and 
one day, when nobody in Rexow dreamed 
of impending evil, a sort of grenadier 
walked in at the door, with heavy black 
eyebrows, and sallow complexion, and with 
spectacles on her nose, and announced her- 


self as the new “ governess.” She began 
to talk French to the little twins, and as 
she observed that the poor little creatures 
were so ignorant that they could not un- 
derstand her in the least, she turned, in 
the same language, to young Jochen. Such 
a thing had never happened to young 
Jochen in his life ; he let his pipe fall from 
his mouth, and as they were drinking 
coffee he said, in order to say something, 
“ Mother, ask the new school-ma’am to take 
another cup.” 

This one was a “ governess ” over the 
whole house, and Frau Niissler stood it 
bravely for a while ; but finally she said, 
“ Stop ! This won’t do ; if anybody is to 
command here it is I, for I am the nearest, 
as Frau Pastorin says ; ” and she gave the 
grenadier her marching orders. Then 
uncle Briisig offered his assistance, and en- 
gaged a teacher, — “ A smart one,” he said, 
“ always in good spirits, and she can play 
you dead on the harpsichord.” He was 
right; one evening in the winter, there 
arrived at Rexow a little blue-cheeked, 
hump-backed body, who, after the first ten 
minutes, attacked the new piano, which 
Jochen had bought at auction, and be- 
laboured it as if she were threshing wheat. 
When she had gone to bed, young Jochen 
opened the piano, and when he saw that 
three strings were broken, he shut it up 
again, and said, “ Yes, what shall we do 
about it ? ” 

There were lively times in the house 
now ; the girl-governess ran and romped 
with the little girls, until Frau Niissler 
came to the conclusion that her oldest, 
Lining, had really more sense than the 
mamselle. She wished to inform herself 
how the mamselle managed the children 
in school-hours ; she requested, therefore, 
to be shown a plan of their studies, and 
the next day Lining brought her a great 
sheet of paper with all the “branches” 
marked out. There was German and 
French, Orthography and Geography, and 
Religion, and Biblical History, and other 
History, and also Biblical Natural History, 
and then to conclude with, music, and 
music, and music. 

“ Eh ! ” said Frau Niissler to Jochen, “ she 
may teach them all the music she wants 
to, for all me, if the religion is only of the 
right sort. What do you say, Jochen ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Jochen, “it is all as true as 
leather 1 ” 

Well, she might have stayed, if Lining 
had not let out, accidentally, that mamselle 
played jack-stones with them in the Bibli- 
cal History ; and as Frau Niissler heard 
one day, during the “ Religion ” hour, such 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


36 

a romping in the school-room that she 
opened the door suddenly, to see what 
kind of religion was going on, behold ! 
Mamselle was playing “ Cuckoo ” with the 
children. Madam Niissler could not ap- 
rove of this lively sort of religion, so 
lamselle “ Hop-on-the-hill ” hopped after 
the grenadier. 

It was very inconvenient, because it was 
now the middle of the fourth quarter, and 
if Frau Niissler complained that the chil- 
dren were running wild, Jochen only said ; 
“ Yes, what shall I do about it ? ” But he 
began to study the Rostock “ Times ” with 
uncommon interest ; and one day he laid 
aside the “ Times,” and ordered Christian 
to get out the “phantom.” His good wife 
was considerably astonished, for she had 
no idea what he was thinking of ; but as 
she looked at the pipe side of his face, and 
noticed that his mouth was stretched wider 
than usual, which represented a friendly 
smile, she gave herself no more anxiety, 
and said, “ Let him go I He has something 
good in his head.” 

After three days Jochen returned with 
an elderly, almost transparent-looking 
lady, and it went through the whole re- 
gion like a running fire : “ Only think ! 
young Jochen has got a governess himself.” 

Brasig came the next Sunday to see her ; 
he was tolerably contented with her, 
“ But,” said he, finally, “ look out, young 
Jochen, she has nerves.” 

Brasig was not only a good judge of 
horses, but a judge of human nature ; he 
was right, — Mamselle was nervous, very 
nervous indeed. The poor little twins 
went about on tiptoe, Mamselle took away 
Lining’s ball, because she had accidentally 
thrown it at the window, and locked up 
the piano, so that Lining could no longer 
play, “ Our cat has nine kittens,” the only 
piece which she had learned from Mamselle 
“ Hop-on-the-hill.” Before long Mamselle 
added cramps to her nerves, and Madam 
Niissler must run with sundry bottles of 
“ drops,” and both Fika and Corlin must 
sit up with her nights, because either one 
alone would be afraid. “ Send her away,” 
said uncle Brasig ; but Frau Niissler was 
too good for that, she sent rather for the 
doctor. Dr. Strump was summoned from 
Rahnstadt, and after examining the pa- 
tient, he pronounced it a very interesting 
case, the more so that he had lately been 
studying “ the night-side of Nature.” 

Young Jochen and his wife thought 
nothing worse from that than that the 
doctor had lately been a good deal out 
of his bed o’ nights, but he meant some- 
thing quite different. 


One day, when the doctor was with 
the mamselle, Corlin called from the 
stairs : — 

“Frau, Frau! there is mischief going 
on. The doctor has been stroking her 
over her face, and now she is asleep, and 
talking in her sleep. She told me I had 
a lover.” 

“ God bless me ! ” cried Brasig, who 
happened to be there, “ what sort of busi- 
ness is the woman carrying on ? ” and he 
went up-stairs with Frau Niissler. After 
a while he came down, and asked, “ Now, 
what do you say to, it young Jochen ? ” 

Jochen reflected awhile, and then said, 

“ Yes, that doesn’t help the matter, 
Brasig.” 

“Jochen,” said Brasig, going up and 
down the room with great strides, “ I said 
to you before, ‘ send her away ; ’ now I 
say, don’t send her away. I asked her if 
it would rain to-morrow, and she said to 
me, in her somnambulic state, that it 
would rain torrents. If it rains torrents 
to-morrow, then take down your barometer * 
from the wall, — barometers are of no use, 
and yours has stood there two years, 
always at fair weather, — and hang her up 
there; you can benefit yourself and the 
whole region.” 

Young Jochen said nothing, but when 
next morning it rained torrents, he was 
silent indeed, and his astonishment kept 
him dumb for three day3. 

The rumor spread in the neighborhood, 
that young Jochen had a fortune-teller at 
his house, and that she had prophesied the 
great rain on Saturday, and also that 
Corlin Kriiuger and Inspector Brasig 
would be married within a year. Dr. 
Strump naturally did his share toward 
setting this interesting case in a clear 
light, and it was not long before Frau 
Niissler’s quiet house became a kind of 
pilgrim’s shrine, to which resorted all who 
were curious, or scientific, or interested in 
physical science ; and, because Frau Niissler 
would have nothing to do with it, and 
Jochen was incapable, Zachary Brasig 
undertook the business, when the doctor 
was not there, and ushered troops of 
visitors into the mamselle’s room, and ex- 
plained her somnambulic condition; and 
before the bed, by the mamselle, sat Chris- 
tian the coachman, who was not afraid of 
the devil himself, for Corlin and Fika 
would no longer watch by her, even in the 
day time, having taken it into their heads 
that she was not respectable ; because 
they translated Brasig’s expression, “ son- 
nenbuhlerisch ” (somnambulic), into Platt* 
Deutsch, and said the mamselle was “ siin 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


nenbulilerisch ” (no better than she should 
be). 

Among the visitors, who came to see 
this wonder, was the young Baron von 
Mallerjahn of Graunenmur, who came 
daily to investigate the physical sciences 
and thought no harm of going into mam- 
selle’s room without Brasig. Frau Niissler 
was disturbed by the impropriety of the 
thing, and requested Jochen to put a stop 
to the nuisance, upon which Jochen re- 
plied that they might put Christian up 
there ; but when Christian came down one 
day, and said the Herr Baron had sent him 
away, because he smelled too strong of 
the stable, then Frau Nussler’s annoyance 
broke out in a flood of tears, and, if Brasig 
had not arrived just then, she would her- 
self have treated the Herr Baron to a 
scolding; but Brasig, like a true knight, 
took the business upon himself. 

He went up-stairs, and said very court- 
eously and decidedly, “ Gracious Herr 
Baron, will you have the kindness to step 
the other side of the door for a moment.” 

It was possibly too fine for the Herr 
Baron’s comprehension, he laughed rather 
confusedly, and said he stood for the 
moment in magnetic rapport with the mam- 
selle. 

“Monetic apport!” said Brasig. “We 
need none of your money here, and none 
of your apporters either; Christian was 
put here on purpose to prevent such 
doings.” 

Brasig himself stood in magnetic rapport , 
without being conscious of it, for when 
Frau Niissler wept he fell into a passion, 
and in great wrath he cried to the baron, 
“ Herr, be off with you, out of the 
house 1 ” 

The baron was naturally astonished at 
this speech, and inquired rather haughtily 
whether Brasig was aware that he was 
growing rude. 

“ Do you call that rudeness ? ” cried 
Brasig, taking the baron by the arm. 

“ Then I will show you something else ! ” 

But the disturbance awoke the mam- 
selle out of her sleep ; she sprang from 
the sofa and grasped the baron by the 
other arm : she wouldn’t stay here, nobody 
here understood her, he alone understood 
her, she would go with him. 

“ The best thing you can do,” said 
Brasig. “ Don’t let us detain you ! Two 
birds with one stone I ” and he assisted 
her down stairs. 

The carriage of the Herr Baron was 
all ready, and drove up to the door ; the 
Herr Baron himself was in great per- 
plexity, but the mamselle held fast. 


37 

“ Yes, there’s no help for it,” said young 
Jochen, as he watched their departure. 

“Young Jochen,” said Brasig, as the 
equipage left the yard, “ she is like leather, 
she is tough. And you, madam,” said he 
to Frau Niissler, “ let the man go, now he 
can see as much as he likes of his monetic 
treasure.” 

Habermann had been absent a good 
deal of late, on business for his master, 
and, when he came home for a day or two, 
he had so much to attend to on the estate 
that he could not trouble himself about 
other people’s affairs. He had been at his 
sister’s however, and had comforted her 
about the mamselle, that it was merely sick- 
ness and would pass over ; but as he came 
home this time, the report was all over 
the neighborhood that young Jochen’s 
sleeping mamselle had gone off with the 
Baron von Mallerjahn, but that she had 
previously infected Brasig with prophesy- 
ing, and Christian with sleeping. Brasig 
prophesied wherever he went, and Chris- 
tian fell asleep even on his feet. 

Habermann went to Pastor Behrens, 
and inquired what he knew of the story, 
and asked him to go with him to his sis- 
ter’s. 

“ Willingly, dear Habermann,” said the 
Pastor ; “ but I have not troubled myself 
much about this matter, for good reasons. 

I know very well that in our good father- 
land many of my brethren in Christ have 
occupied themselves in healing the pos- 
sessed, and casting out devils ; but I think 
such cases belong rather to the depart- 
ment of the physician, or ” — with a rather 
peculiar laugh — “ to that of the police.” 

When they came to Rexow, the cheerful, 
active Frau Niissler, who could usually 
shake off easily the worst misfortune, or 
the most annoying vexation, seemed quite 
another person. 

“ Herr Pastor,” said she, “ Brother 
Karl, that crazy woman has gone, and I 
had trouble enough about her, and so have 
they all gone, that I have had ; but that is 
no matter, I shall get over that. What 
troubles me is my poor little girls, who 
know nothing and learn nothing. And 
when I think how the poor little dears 
will seem among their elders and equals 
like a couple of fools, knowing nothing 
that is talked about, and not even know- 
ing how to write a letter — no, Herr 
Pastor, you, who have learned so much, 
you cannot know how one feels, but I 
know, and, Karl, you can understand it 
too. No, Herr Pastor, even though my 
heart should break, and I should go about 
alone with Jochen in this great house, like 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


38 

one in a dream, I will give up my little 
girls to go away to school, rather than 
have them remain stupid all their lives. 
You «ee, when Louise come3 here, she is 
intelligent ; one can talk with her, and she 
can read the newspaper to Jochen. Min 
can read too, but if she comes to a strange 
word, she begins to stammer. For in- 
stance the other day Louise read ‘Bur- 
doh,’ and the place is called so, — and 
Min read ‘ Bo-ur-de-aux.’ What is the 
good of ‘ Bo-ur-de-aux,’ when the city is 
called ‘ Burdoh ? ’ ” 

The Pastor had risen during this speech, 
and walked thoughtfully about the room ; 
at last he came to a stand before Frau 
Nussler, looked at her observantly and 
said, “ My dear neighbor, I will make you 
a proposition. Louise is a little more 
advanced, to be sure, but that makes no 
difference; you shall not be separated 
from your little ones, — let me instruct 
them.” 

Frau Niissler had never thought of such 
an offer, and it seemed to her like draw- 
ing the great prize in the lottery, or as if 
she had stepped out of shadow into sun- 
shine. She stared at the Pastor with her 
wide-open, blue eyes ; “ Herr Pastor ! ” 
she cried, springing up from her chair, 
‘•Jochen, Jochen, did you hear? The 
Herr Pastor offers to teach the children 
himself.” 

Jochen had heard, and was also on his 
feet, trying to say something ; he said 
nothing, however, only fumbled and grap- 
pled for the Herr Pastor’s hand, until he 
grasped it, then pressed it warmly, and 
drew him to the sofa, behind the supper 
table, which was spread; and when Frau 
Niissler and Habermann had fully ex- 
pressed their pleasure, he also had become 
capable of expression, and said, “ Mother, 
pour out a cup for the Herr Pastor.” 

So Mining and Lining were now daily 
guests at the Gurlitz parsonage. They 
were as clearly a pair of twins as ever; 
only that Lining as the eldest was perhaps 
half an inch taller than Mining, and Mining 
was a good half inch larger round the 
waist, and — if one looked very closely — 
Mining’s nose was a trifle shorter than 
Lining’s. 

And so on the day when Pomuchelskopp 
set out to make his first call at the par- 
sonage, the twins were in the Frau Pas- 
torin’s sewing-school, for the Frau Pastorin 
also meant to do her duty by the children, 
when the Pastor was occupied with the 
business of his calling. 

“ God bless me ! ” exclaimed the Frau 
Pastorin, running into the room, 1 “ chil- 


dren, put your work aside ; take it all 
into the bedroom, Louise; Mining, pick 
| up the threads and scraps; Lining, you 
put the chairs in order ! Here comes our 
new landlord with his wife and daughters, 

■ across the church-yard, right up to the 
house, — and, bless his heart! my Pastor 
i has gone to Warnitz to a christening!” 

! And she grasped unconsciously her duster, 
but had to lay it aside directly, for there 
was a knock at the door, and upon her 
“ Come in ! ” Pomuchelskopp with his wife 
and his two daughters, Malchen and 
Salchen, entered the room. 

“ They did themselves the honor,” said 
Pomuchelskopp, endeavoring to make a 
graceful bow, which on account of his 
peculiar build was rather a failure, 
“ to wait upon the Herr Pastor, and the 
Frau Pastorin — acquaintance — neighbor- 
hood ” 

Frau Pomuchelskopp stood by, as stiff 
and stately as if she had that morning 
been plated with iron, and Malchen and 
Salchen, in their gay silk dresses, stared 
at the three little maidens in their clean 
cotton garments, like a goldfinch at a 
hedge-sparrow. 

The Frau Pastorin was the most cordial 
person in the world, to her friends ; but 
when she met strangers, and her Pastor 
was not present to speak for himself, she 
took his dignity also upon her shoulders. 
She drew herself up to her full height, 
looking as round and full as a goose on 
the spit, and with every word that she 
spoke the cap ribbons under her little 
double chin wagged back and forth with a 
dignified air, as if they would say, “ No- 
body shall take precedence of me ! ” 

“ The honor is quite on our side,” said 
she. “ Unfortunately my Pastor is not at 
home. Won’t you sit down ? ” and with 
that she seated the two old Pomuchels- 
kopps on the sofa, under the picture-gal- 
lery. 

Meanwhile, as the older people were dis- 
cussing indifferent topics with an appear- 
ance of interest, as the custom is, and now 
one and now another advancing opinions 
to which the rest could not assent, Louise 
went, in a friendly way, as was proper, to 
the two young ladies, and shook hands with 
them, and the little twins followed her ex 
ample, as was also proper. 

Now Malchen and Salchen were just 
eighteen and nineteen years old. They 
were not handsome ; Salchen had a gray, 
pimpled complexion, and Malchen, though 
she was not to blame for it, bore too strik- 
ing a resemblance to her father. But they 
were educated — save the mark ! and had 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


recently attended the Whitsuntide fair 
and Trinity ball, at Rostock, so there was 
really a great difference between them and 
the little girls, and since they were not very 
kindly disposed, they looked rather coldly 
on the little maidens. 

These, however, either did not notice it, 
or took it as a matter of course that their 
advances should be received with coolness, 
and Louise said with great admiration to 
Malchen, “ Ah, what a beautiful dress you 
have on ! ” 

Even an educated young lady might be 
pleased at that, and Malchen became a lit- 
tle more friendly, as she said, “ It is only 
an old one ; my new one cost, with the 
trimming and dress-making, all of ten dol- 
lars more.” 

“ Papa gave them to us for the Trinity 
ball. Ah, how we danced there 1 ” added 
Salchen. 

Now Louise had heard in sermons about 
Sundays before and after Trinity, but of a 
Trinity ball she knew nothing ; in fact she 
had no definite conception of a ball itself, 
for though the Frau Pastorin in her youth 
had taken pleasure like other people, and 
had occasionally set foot in a ball-room, 
yet, out of consideration for her present 
dignified position, she always answered 
Louise’s questions what a ball was like, — 
“ Mere frivolity 1 ” 

As for Lining and Mining they would 
have known nothing of balls, for though 
their mother danced in her younger days, 
it was merely at harvest feasts, and young 
Jochen had indeed once gone to a ball, but 
upon reaching the door of the saloon he 
was so frightened that he beat a retreat, — 
but Uncle Brasig’s descriptions had given 
the children a confused idea of many white 
dresses with green and red ribbons, of vio- 
lins and clarionettes, of waltzes and qua- 
drilles, and many, many glasses of punch. 
And as Uncle Briisig had described it all, 
he had also given an illustration, with his 
short legs, of the sliding step, and the hop 
step, so that they laughed prodigiously; 
but what a “ ball,” such a ball as the last 
governess had taken away from Mining, 
had to do with it all, they had never com- 
prehended. So Mining asked quite inno- 
cently, “ But, if you dance, how do you play 
with a ball?” 

Mining was a thoughtless little girl, and 
she should not have asked such a question ; 
but, considering her youth and inexperi- 
ence, the Misses Pomuchelskopp need not 
have laughed quite so loud as they did. 

“ Oh dear 1 ” cried Salchen, “ that is too 
stupid ! ” 

“Yes, good gracious! so very countri- 1 


39 

fied ! ” said Malchen, and drew herself up 
in a stately attitude, as if she had lived 
under the shadow of St. Peter’s tower in 
Rostock from her babyhood, and the first 
burgomeister of the city had been her next 
door neighbor. 

Poor little Mining turned as red as a 
rose, for she felt that she must have made 
a great blunder, and Louise grew red also, 
but it was from anger. “ Why do you 
laugh?” she cried hastily, “why do you 
laugh because we know nothing about 
balls ? ” 

“ See, see ! How excited ! ” laughed 
Malchen. “ My dear child ” 

She went no further in her wise speech, 
being interrupted by hasty words from the 
group on the sofa. 

“ Frau Pastorin, I say it is wrong ; I am 
the owner of Gurlitz, and if the Pastor’s 
field was to be rented ” 

“ It was my Pastor’s doing, and the Kam- 
merrath is an old friend, and one of our 
parishioners, and the field joins his land as 
well as it does yours, and Inspector Haber- 
mann ” 

“Is an old cheat,” interrupted Pomu- 
chelskopp. 

“He has already done us an injury,” 
added his wife. 

“ What ? ” cried the little Frau Pastorin, 
“ what ? ” 

But her dear old heart thought in a min- 
ute of little Louise, and she overcame her 
anger, and began to wink and blink. It 
was too late ; the child had heard her 
father’s name, had heard the slander, and 
stood now before the arrogant man, and 
the cold, hard woman. 

“What is my father? What has my 
father done ? ” 

Her eyes shot fiery glances at the two 
who had spoken evil of her father, and the 
young frame which up to this time had 
known constant peace and joy, quivered 
with passion. 

People tell us that sometimes the fair, 
still, green earth trembles, and fire and 
flame burst forth, and showers of gray 
ashes bury the dwellings of men, and the 
temples of God. It seemed to her that a 
beautiful temple, in which she had often 
worshipped, had been buried under gray 
ashes, and her grief broke forth in stream- 
ing tears, as her good foster-mother put 
her arms around her, and led her from the 
room. 

Muchel looked at his Kliicking, and 
Klucking looked at her Muchel ; they had 
got themselves into trouble. It was quite 
another thing from having one of his 
laborer’s wives come to him, in tears, and 


40 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


a pitiful tale of sorrow and distress — he 
knew what to do in such cases ; but here 
he had no occasion for reproaches or ad- 
vice, and, as he glanced about him in his 
confusion, and saw upon the wall the 
hands of Christ stretched out in blessing, 
it seemed to him that the flashing eyes of 
Louise had turned appealingly toward 
them, and he remembered how Christ had 
said, “ Suffer little children to come unto 
me, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven.” 
He did not feel exactly comfortable. 

His brave Kliicking also, was quite dis- 
turbed. She had heard her own children 
screaming many a time under her vigorous 
discipline, but this was a different matter ; 
Malchen and Salchen had often shot fire 
from their eyes, and stamped their feet, 
but this was a different matter. She re- 
covered herself soon, however, and said, — 

“ Kopp, don’t make such a stupid face ! 
What did she say about her father ? Is 
Habermann her father ? ” 

“Yes,” answered Mining and Lining, 
through their tears, “ that is Louise Haber- 
mann.” And they followed their little friend 
into the next room, to cry with her ; for 
though they did not know how deeply her 
heart was wounded, they reckoned them- 
selves one with her, in joy and sorrow. 

“ I did not know that,” said Pomuchels- 
kopp ; the very words he had used years 
before, when Habermann’s wife lay in her 
coffin. 

“ A foolish girl ! ” said his Hauhning. 
“ Malchen and Salchen, come, we will go ; 
the Pastor’s wife won’t come back again.” 

And so they went off, like the year 1822, 
of which Hauhning represents the 1, on ac- 
count of her leanness, and because she 
would always be number 1, Pomuchelskopp 
the 8, on account of his size and rotundity, 
and the two daughters the two figure 2’s, 
— for such a 2 always looks to me like a 
goose swimming on the water. 

As they stepped out of the door, the 
Pastor was just returning from his duties 
at Warnitz, and had brought Uncle Brasig 
home with him. He knew by their ap- 
pearance that they had been making a cer- 
emonious visit, and sprung hastily from 
the carriage, that he might be in time for a 
part of it. 

“ Ah, good day ! How do you do ? But,” 
he added in surprise, “where is my 
wife ? ” 

“ She went off and left us,” said Frau 
Pomuchelskopp, stiffly. 

“ Eh, there must be some mistake ! Do 
come in again, I shall be back directly,” 
and he ran into the house. 

Meanwhile Brasig had gone up to his 


old comrade Pomuchelskopp : “ Good day, 
Zamel, how are you ? ” 

“ Thank you, Herr Inspector, very well,” 
was the reply. 

Brasig elevated his eyebrows, looked him 
square in the face, and whistled square in 
his face. If Frau Pomuchelskopp wished 
to make him a courtesy, she might do so, 
but only to his back, for he turned about 
and went into the house. 

“ Come, Kopp,” said she sharply, and the 
procession moved off. 

As the pastor entered the house, he 
found nobody there ; he went through into 
the garden, and called, and it was not 
long before he saw the little twins sitting 
under a raspberry hedge, with red eyes, and 
they pointed to the birch-tree arbor, with 
anxious looks, as if to say he must go there 
if he would find out what the trouble was. 
He went to the arbor, and there sat his 
Regina, with the child in her lap, trying to 
comfort her. When she saw her Pastor, 
she put the child gently down on the bench, 
drew him out of the arbor, and told him 
the matter. 

Pastor Behrens listened in silence ; but 
as his wife repeated the wicked word that 
the Herr Landlord had used, there flashed 
over his intelligent, quiet face a look of 
bitter anger, and then his clear eyes shone 
with the deepest compassion. He said to 
his wife that she might go in, and he would 
speak to the child. So it had come at last 1 
his lovely flower had been pierced by a 
poisonous worm ; the pitiless world had 
grasped this soft, pure heart with its hard, 
coarse hand, and the finger-marks could 
never be effaced ; now it had entered upon 
the great, never-ending struggle, which is 
fought out here on earth until hearts cease 
to beat. It must come, yes, it must come, 
he knew that well enough; but he knew 
also that the greatest art of one who would 
train a human soul lies in keeping away, as 
long as possible, the hard hand from the 
tender heart, until that also had become 
harder, and then, if the evil grip should be 
even worse, the black fingers will not 
leave such deep marks upon the heart, 
until then innocent of the never-endino* 
struggle. He went into the arbor. Thou 
art still happy, Louise ; well is it for one 
who in such an hour is blessed with a 
faithful friend ! f 

Frau Pastorin, meanwhile, went into the 
parlor, and found Briisig. Briisig, instead 
of sitting down on the comfortable sofa, 
under the picture-gallery, or at least in a 
reasonable chair, had seated himself on a 
table, and was working like a line n-we aver, 
in his excitement over Pomuchelskopp’a 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


41 


ceremonious behavior. “There you see 
me, there you have me ! ” he cried angrily. 
“ The Jesuit 1 ” As the Frau Pastorin 
came in, he sprang from his table, and 
cried, — 

“ Frau Pastorin, what should you say of 
anybody you had known forty years, and 
you meet him, and you speak to him, and 
he calls you “ Sie ? ” * 

“ Ah, Briisig ” 

“ That is what Pomuchelskopp has done 
to me.” 

“ Let the man alone ! He has done 
worse mischief here;” and she related 
what had happened. 

Briisig was angry, exceedingly angry, 
over the injury which he had received, but 
when he heard this he was angry beyond 
measure ; he stormed up and down the J 
room, and made use of language for which ! 
the Frau Pastorin would have reproved I 
him severely, had she not been very angry 
herself ; at last he thrust himself into the 
sofa corner, and sat, without saying a 
word, looking straight before him. 

The Pastor entered, his Regina looked 
at him inquiringly. 

“ She is watering the flowers,” he said, 
as if to compose her, and he walked in his 
quiet way, up and down the room, finally 
turning toward Br'asig. “ What are you 
thinking of, dear friend ? ” 

“Hell-fire I I am thinking about hell- 
fire, Herr Pastor ! ” 

“ Why of that ? ” asked the Pastor. 

But instead of replying, Brasig sprang 
to his feet, and said : 

“ Tell me, Herr Pastor, is it true that 
there are mountains that vomit fire ? ” 

“ Certainly,” said the Pastor. 

“ And are they good or bad for man- 
kind ? ” 

“ The people who live in the neighbour- 
hood consider the eruptions a good thing, 
because then the earthquakes are not so 
violent.” 

“ So ? so ? ” said Brasig, apparently not 
quite satisfied with the answer. “ But it 
is true, isn’t it,” he went on, “ that such 
mountains send forth flame and smoke, 
like a chimney ? ” 

“ Something so,” said the Pastor, who 
had not the slightest idea what Br'asig was 
driving at. 

“ Well,” said Brasig, stamping with his 
foot, « then I wish that the devil would 
take Zamel Pomuchelskopp by the nape 
of his neck, and hold him over one of those 
fire-spouting holes till he got his deserts.” 

* Du (thou) is the common form of address be- 
tween friends ; Sie (third person plural) being used 
with strangers, and on formal occasions. 


“ Fie, Brasig I ” cried the little Pastorin, 
“ you are a heathen. How can you utter 
such an unchristian wish in a minister’s 
house ! ” 

“ Frau Pastorin,” said Brasig, going back 
into the sofa-corner, “ it would be a great 
benefit to mankind.” 

“ Dear Brasig,” said the Pastor, “ we 
must remember that these people used the 
disgraceful expression without any inten- 
tion of hurting us.” 

“It is all one to me,” cried Brasig, “with 
or without intention. He provoked me 
with intention, but what he did here with- 
out intention was a thousand times worse. 
You see, Herr Pastor, one must get angry 
sometimes, and we farmers get angry reg- 
ularly two or three times a day, — it be- 
longs to the business ; but moderately, 
what I call a sort of farm-boy anger. For 
example, yesterday I was having the fal- 
low-ground marled, and I had ordered the 
boys to form a line with their carts. Then 
I stood in the marl-pit, and all was going 
nicely. Then, you see, there came that lub- 
ber, Christian Kohlhaas, — a real horned- 
beast of a creature, — there he was with 
his full cart coming back to the pit. “ You 
confounded rascal ! ” said I, “ what under 
heaven i are you going to bring the marl 
back again ! Do you believe, that block- 
head looked me right in the face, and said 
he wasn’t quite ready to empty the cart, 
and would go into the line. Well, I was 
angry, you may be sure ; but there are 
different sorts of anger. This was a 
proper farm-boy anger, and that kind 
agrees with me, especially after dinner; 
but here — I can’t scold Pomuchelskopp as 
I do the farm-boys. It all stays here, I 
can’t get rid of it. And you will see, Frau 
Pastorin, to-morrow I shall have that 
cursed gout again.” 

“Brasig,” said the Frau Pastorin, “will 
you do me a favour ? Don’t tell Haber- 
mann anything of this.” 

“Eh, why should I, Frau Pastorin? But 
I will go to little Louise, and comfort her, 
and tell her that Samuel Pomuchelskopp 
is the meanest, most infamous rascal on the 
face of the earth.” 

“ No, no,” said the Pastor, hastily, “ let 
that go. The child will get over it, and I 
hope all will be well again.” 

“No? Then good-bye,” said Br'asig, 
reaching for his cap. 

« Surely, Brasig, you will stay to dinner 
with us ? ” 

“Thank you kindly, Frau Pastorin. 
There is reason in all things. One must 
be angry sometimes, to be sure ; but bet- 
ter after dinner than before. I had bettei 


42 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


go and work in the marl-pit ; but Chris- 
tian would do well not to come back to- 
day with his full cart to the marl-pit. So 
good-bye, once more.” 

And with that he went off. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Harermann - heard nothing of this oc- 
currence. His child said nothing to him 
about it, only treated him with increased 
tenderness and reverence, if that were 
possible, as if with her greater love to 
make up to him the wrong which had 
been done him. Frau Niissler, who had 
heard the whole story from her little 
girls, could not find it in her heart to say 
a word to her brother which could grieve 
him, or make him suspicious of others. 
The Pastor and his wife had the same rea- 
son for silence, and also the wish that the 
whole matter should be forgotten by 
Louise. 

Jochen Niissler said nothing of conse- 
quence, and Brasig also held his peace, 
that is toward Habermann. It happened, 
however, through his feeling of injury at 
this self-restraint, and the attack of gout, 
— which came as he said it would the 
next day, — that he excited the whole 
neighborhood against Pomuchelskopp ; 
and as the latter made no special efforts 
towards friendship and sociability, it was 
not long before his intercourse with his 
neighbors was like my wife’s kitchen floor 
at Pentecost, so naked and bare was he 
left in this respect. 

Pomuchelskopp looked upon social in- 
tercourse as a garden merely, in which he 
could plant his pride-beans ; whether the 
garden gave him shade, or produced 
flowers, was of little importance to him 
provided that he had room for himself 
and what belonged to him to spread and 
grow. He had come into Mecklenburg, in 
the first place, because he could buy 
Gurlitz at a good bargain ; but, secondly 
because he had a vague idea of his future 
prospects as a landlord. 

“ Hauhning,” said he to his wife, “ here in 
Pomerania, every body rules us, and the 
landrath says, “ It shall be so and so,” but 
in Mecklenburg we shall be law-givers 
ourselves, I among others. And I have 
heard it is customary there for rich 
burghers, who live like the nobility, to be- 
come ennobled in time. Think, Kiiking, 
how it would seem to be called ‘ my gra- 
cious lady von Pomuchelskopp I ’ but one 
must not throw himself away ! ” 

And he took pains not to throw him- 
self away, giving up, for that purpose, one 
of his chief pleasures, the boasting and 


bragging of his money, in order not to 
associate too familiarly with the farmers 
and inspectors of the neighborhood. For 
that purpose, he had greeted old Brasig 
with “ Sie,” and had honored only Brasig’s 
Herr Count with a formal visit. He went 
in his blue dress-coat, with bright buttons, 
and the new coach with four brown horses, 
and was as welcome there as a hog in a 
Jew’s house. When he came home, he sat 
out of humor in the sofa-corner, and struck 
at the flies ; and as his wife who always 
became affectionate when he was cross, 
said, “ Poking, what is the matter ? ” he 
grumbled, “ What should be the matter ? 
Nothing is the matter, only these con- 
founded nobility, who are friendly to look 
at, and when you come nearer it is good 
for nothing. Oh, yes, he asked me to sit 
down, and then he inquired very politely 
how he could serve me. I don’t want any- 
thing of him, I am better off than he ; but 
I could think of nothing to say, at the mo- 
ment, and then there was such a silence 
that I must needs go.” 

But for all that, Pomuchelskopp would 
not throw himself away, — by no means ! 
He trailed after the nobility like the tail 
after a sheep, and although he would 
never advance a penny of wages to his 
own people, and the poor tradesmen in 
the city had to wait till the year’s end 
for their hard-earned pay, he had money 
for any spendthrift young gentleman. 
And, while every poor devil of a fellow 
who went through his fields was fined 
without pity, for trespassing, Brasig’s 
gracious Herr Count had permission, 
even in harvest time, to go over them 
with the whole hunt ; and while he cheated 
the Pastor shamefully in his Easter-lamb, 
the Herr Count’s hunter could shoot the 
roe-buck before his very door, and he 
made no complaint. No ! Zamel Pomu- 
chelskopp did not throw himself away ! 

Habermann kept out of his way. He 
was not a man for strife and contention, 
and was too well satisfied with his situa- 
tion, to be looking here and there after 
other things. He was like a man, who, 
after being out in a storm, sits warm and 
dry in the chimney-corner ; and his only 
trouble was his anxiety about his good 
master. He had some time before re- 
ceived a letter from him, in a strange 
hand, and with a black seal, which said 
that he had had a stroke of paralysis, and 
had not yet recovered the use of his right 
hand; but the greatest affliction which 
had befallen him was the loss of his wife, 
who had died suddenly, in full health. 
And it said also that his nephew Franz 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


43 


would arrive at Pumpelhagen, at Michael- 
mas, in order to learn farming. “ It is his 
own wish to handle the spade and learn 
everything for himself. I also think it 
best.” These words were written in the 
Kammerrath’s own hand. A couple of 
weeks later he received another letter, in 
which the Kammerrath informed him that 
he had resigned his post in Schwerin and 
intended, after the next Easter, to reside 
at Pumpelhagen, with his three unmar- 
ried daughters ; through the winter, he 
must remain in Schwerin, on account 
of his health. Habermann should how- 
ever retain complete management of 
everything. 

This would be a change, which would 
have some effect upon his situation ; and, 
though he had no occasion to dread the 
eye of the master, and would gladly 
exert himself to do anything for his 
comfort, yet he could not help saying to 
himself that the quiet peace and sim- 
plicity of his life were over, and how 
long would it be before greater changes 
must come V 

Michaelmas came, and with it came Franz 
von Rainbow. He was not what is called 
a handsome young man ; but he was 
healthy and strong, and upon nearer view 
one was struck by the earnestness of his 
manner, and the good-nature in his eyes. 
A shadow of sadness sometimes fell upon 
his face, which may have been owing to 
the fact that he lost his parents in early 
youth, and had since stood as an orphan, 
alone in the world. As one might infer 
from his appearance, he was no fool; he 
had good natural talents, which had been 
developed at the school in which he had 
fitted for the university, and he had also 
learned a more important lesson, how to 
labor. He was a young tree, raised in a 
nursery in a hard soil, and the wood had 
grown slowly, but firmly ; he had shot out 
no rank shoots into the air, his branches 
were low, but wide-spread, and when he 
should be transplanted he would need no 
prop. “ Let him be,” the gardener would 
say, “ he is tough and strong, he can stand 
alone.” 

At present, he was twenty years old, 
and the three years’ child whom Haber- 
mann recollected had become a steady 
young man, with future prospects such as 
few young men in the country were pos- 
sessed of. He owned two fine estates, 
which had become freed from debt by pru- 
dent management during his minority. It 
was before his recollection, to be sure, 
that Habermann had served as inspector 
with his father ; but he had been told how 


friendly the inspector had always been 
toward him, and when a good, simple- 
hearted man knows that another has car- 
ried him in his arms, as a child, confidence 
easily glides into his heart, and he seems 
to see the little pillow in the cradle, and 
the tired head lies softly down, and the 
dreams of childhood return once more. 

Habermann returned this confidence, 
heartily and gladly. He cautiously and 
quietly led the young man along, in the 
new and unaccustomed path ; he instructed 
him in matters of the farm-yard and of the 
field ; he told him the reasons why such a 
thing should be done, and why it should 
be done just so, and not in a different 
manner. At the same time, he endeavored 
to spare him ; but as he noticed that his 
scholar had no wish to be spared, and de- 
sired faithfully to fill his post, he let him 
have his way, saying to himself, like the 
gardener, “ Let him alone, he needs no 
prop.” 

But to these contented companions an- 
other was to be added, who would bring 
life into the house, and that was Fritz Trid- 
delsitz. 

The little Frau Pastorin had a brother- 
in-law, the apothecary Triddelsitz, at Rahn- 
stadt, and when he heard that Habermann 
had taken a pupil to be instructed in farm- 
ing, he took it into his head that his Fritz, 
who was a foppish stripling of seventeen, 
should learn how to manage an estate un- 
der Habermann’s tuition. “ Merely the 
higher branches,” said Fritz ; “ I know all 
about common things already, for I have 
been twice in the dogdays at the miller’s in 
Bolz, and helped about the harvesting.” 

The little Frau Pastorin was not quite 
pleased with the proposal, for she knew 
her greyhound of a nephew, and did not 
wish that Habermann should be troubled 
with him ; but her brother-in-law perse- 
vered, and the matter was brought for- 
ward. Habermann would have gone 
through fire and water for the Pastor and 
his wife ; but he could not decide such a 
question on his own responsibility. He 
wrote to his master about it : young Trid- 
delsitz wanted to come in as a third, he 
had many crotchets in his head, but was 
good-hearted; his chief recommendation 
was that he was the Frau Pastorin’s 
nephew, to whom Habermann was under 
great obligation, as the Herr Kammerrath 
was aware. For the rest, his father would 
pay, for two years, a hundred dollars for 
board. Would it be agreeable to the Herr 
Kammerrath, that Fritz Triddelsitz should 
come to Pumpelhagen, to learn farming? 

The Herr Kammerrath answered by re- 


44 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST, 


turn post ; there was no question of board, 
the hundred dollars were for tuition, and 
with that he had nothing to do, that was 
Habermann’s business ; if he thought best, 
let him take the young man, and welcome. 

This was a great joy to Habermann; 
nothing more was said of board or tuition 
money, for he could now discharge a small 
portion of the great debt which he owed 
to the Pastor and his wife. 

So Fritz Triddelsitz came, and in such a 
way ! He was his dear mother’s only son, 
— to be sure she had a couple of daugh- 
ters, — and she fitted him out for his new 
place, so that he could represent an ap- 
prentice, a travelling agent, an inspector, 
or a farmer and landlord, according to the 
occasion, or as the whim took him to play 
at farming, in this manner or that. He had 
dress-boots and working boots, laced boots 
and top-boots ; he had morning shoes, and 
dancing shoes, and fancy slippers ; he had 
button-gaiters, and riding-gaiters, and 
other gaiters ; he had dress-coats, and 
linen frocks, and cloth coats and pilot-coats ; 
overcoats and under-jackets, and rain-coats, 
and a variety of long and short trousers, 
too numerous to mention. 

This outfit for a gentleman farmer ar- 
rived at Pumpelhagen one fine day, in 
several large boxes, with a fine, soft bed, 
and a great clumsy secretary; and the 
carrier volunteered the news that the 
young gentleman would soon be there, he 
was on the way, and was merely detained 
by a struggle with his father’s old chestnut 
horse, who would come no further than the 
Gurlitz parsonage, because that had been 
the limit of his journeys hitherto. How 
the contest terminated he did not see, be- 
cause he came away ; but the young gen- 
tleman was coming. And he came, and as 
I said before, in what a guise ! Like an 
inspector over two large estates belonging 
to a count, and who has the privilege of 
riding to the hounds with his gracious Herr 
Count, in a green hunting-jacket, and 
white leather breeches, top-boots with yel- 
low tops, and spurs, and over the whole a 
water-proof coat, not because it was likely 
to rain, but it was new, and he wanted to 
hear what people would say about it. And 
he came upon his father’s old chestnut, and, 
from the appearance of both, it was evi- 
dent that their present relations were the 
result of a contest. The horse had come 
to a stand in the middle of the great pud- 
dle before the Pastor’s house, with a fixed 
determination to go no further, and Fritz 
had exercised him for a good ten minutes 
with whip and spur, to the great dismay 
of the little FrauPastorin, before he could 


persuade him to advance ; so when he dis- 
mounted at Pumpelhagen, his rain-coat 
looked as if he had been pelted withm ud. 

The old chestnut stood before the house, 
and he pricked up his ears, and said to 
himself, “ Is he a fool, or am I ? Iam sev- 
enteen years old, and he is seventeen years 
old. He has had his way this time, next 
time I will have mine. If he treats me so 
with whip and spur and kicks, next time 
I will lie down in the puddle.” 

When Fritz Triddelsitz came into the 
room where Habermann, and young Herr 
von Rambow, and Marie Moller, the house- 
keeper, were sitting at dinner, the old 
inspector was struck dumb with astonish- 
ment, for he had never seen him before. 
In his green hunting-jacket, Fritz looked 
like one of those long asparagus stalks 
which spring up in the garden, and he was 
so thin and slender that he looked as if one 
could cut him in two with his riding-whip. 
He had high cheek bones and a freckled 
face, and something so assured, and yet 
awkward in his whole demeanor, that 
Habermann said to himself, “ God bless me ! 
am I to teach him ? He feels above me 
already.” 

His reflections were interrupted by a 
burst of laughter from Franz von Ram- 
bow, in which Marie Moller secretly joined, 
holding her napkin before her mouth. 

Fritz had begun, “ Good-day, Herr In- 
spector, how do you do ? ” when he was 
interrupted by the laughter ; he saw his 
old schoolmate at Parchen, shaking with 
fun; he looked at him rather doubtfully; 
but it was not long before he joined in the 
laugh himself, and then steady old Haber- 
mann could refrain no longer, he laughed 
till his eyes ran over. “ Man ! ” said Franz, 
“ how you have rigged yourself up ! ” 

“ Always noble !” said Fritz, and Marie 
Moller disappeared again behind her nap 
kin. 

“ Come, Triddelsitz,” said Habermann, 
“ sit down to dinner.” 

Fritz accepted the invitation — the fel- 
low was in luck, for he had come at the 
best season for good living, in the roast- 
goose season, and as it happened, a fine, 
brown bird stood before him, and this 
beginning of his study of farming might 
well be agreeable. He was not at all 
sparing of the roast goose, and Habermann 
reflected silently that if he sat on horse- 
back as well as at table, paid as much At- 
tention to farm-boys as to roast goose, 
knew as much about horses’ fodder as of 
his own, and cleared up business as com- 
pletely as he did his plate, something 
might be made of him in time. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


“Well, Triddelsitz,” said Habermann, 
when dinner was oyer, “ now you can go 
to your room, and change your clothes, 
and put this smart riding-suit away where 
the moths will not get at it, for you won’t 
neQd it again this two years. We don’t 
ride much here, we go on foot, and if there 
is any riding to do, I do it myself, by the 
way.” 

Before long, Fritz re-appeared, with a 
pair of greased boots, short breeches, and 
a grass-green pilot-coat. 

“ That will do,” said Habermann ; “ now 
come, and I will give you some instructions 
to begin with.” 

They went over the farm, and next 
morning Fritz Triddelsitz stood with seven 
of the farm laborers in the Rahnstadt 
road, and let the water out of the pud- 
dles, — an agreeable business, especially 
in November, with a drizzling rain all day 
long. “ The devil ! ” said Fritz Triddelsitz, 
“ farming isn’t what I took it for ! ” 

A couple of weeks after his arrival, 
Brasig came riding into the yard, one 
Sunday noon. Fritz had by this time be- 
come so far subdued by Habermann, his 
monotonous work, and the everlasting 
rainy weather, that he began to compre- 
hend his situation as an apprentice, and 
his natural good-heartedness made him 
ready for little services. So he started 
out of doors, to assist Brasig down from 
his horse, but Brasig screamed, “Don’t 
come near me 1 Don’t touch me ! Don’t 
come within ten feet of me 1 Tell Karl 
Habermann to come out.” 

Habermann came: “Bless you, Brasig, 
why don’t you get down ? ” 

“Karl — no, don't touch me! just get 
me a soft chair, so that I can get down by 
degrees, and then bring a blanket or a sheep- 
skin or something soft to spread under it, 
for I have got this confounded gout.” 

They did as he asked, spreading mats 
under the chair, and Brasig crawled down 
from the horse, and hobbled into the house. 

“Why didn’t you send me word you 
were ill, Brasig ? ” said Habermann. “ I 
would gladly have gone to you.” 

“You can do nothing for me, Karl; but 
I couldn't stay in that confounded hole any 
longer. But what I was going to say is — 
I have given it up.” 

“ Given what up V ” 

“ Getting married. I shall take the pen- 
sion from my gracious Herr Count,.” 

“ Well, Brasig, I would do that, in your 
place.” 

“ Eh, Karl, it is all very well to talk ; but 
it is a hard thing for a man of my years to 
give up all his cherished hopes, and go to a 


45 

water-cure ; for Dr. Strump is determined 
to send me there. I don’t suppose Dr. 
Strump knows anything about it, but he 
has had the accursed gout himself, and 
when he sits by me and talks so wisely 
about it, and talks about Colchicum and 
Polchicum, it is a comfort to think that 
such a learned man has the gout too.” 

“ So you are going to a water-cure ? ” 

“Yes, Karl; but not before spring. I 
have made my plans ; this winter I shall 
grumble along here, then in the spring I 
will go to the water-cure, and by midsum- 
mer I will take the pension, and go to live 
in the old mill-house at Haunerwiem. I 
thought at first I would go to Rahnstadt, 
but there I should have no house rent-free, 
and no village, and they would take me for 
a fat sheep and fleece me and skin me ; it 
would be contemptible, and also too expen- 
sive.” 

“You are right, Brasig; stay in the 
country, it is better for you ; and stay in 
our neighborhood, for we should miss you 
sadly, if we did not see your honest old 
face, every few days.” 

“ Oh, you have society enough ; you have 
these young people, and, I was going to 
say, old Broker at Kniep, and Schimmel 
of Radboom would be glad to send you 
their boys also. If I were you I would put 
on an addition to the old farm-house, to 
have plenty of room, and establish a regu- 
lar agricultural school.” 

“ That does very well for a joke, Brasig. 
I have enough to do with these.” 

“ Yes ? How do they get along.” 

“ Well, Brasig, you know them both, and 
I have often thought I should like to ask 
your opinion.” 

“ I can’t tell, Karl, till I have seen how 
they go. Young farmers are like colts, one 
can’t judge merely by looking at them, one 
must see them put through their paces. 
See, there goes your young nobleman ; call 
him a little nearer, and let me examine 
him.” 

Habermann laughed, but complied with 
Brasig’s request, and called the young 
man. 

“ Hm,” said Brasig, “ a firm gait, not too 
rapid, holds himself together well, and has 
his limbs under control. He’ll do, Karl. 
Now the other one ! ” 

“Herr von Rambow,” said Habermann 
as the young man came up, “ where is 
Triddelsitz?” 

“ In his room,” was the answer. 

“Hm,” said Brasig, “resting himself a 
little.” 

“ I don’t know.” 

“ Tell him to come down,” said Haber- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


IG 

mann, “and come back yourself. Coffee 
will be ready presently.” 

“Karl,” said Brasig, when they were 
alone, “ you will see, the apothecary’s son 
has been taking a nap.” 

“ No harm if lie has, Brasig ; he is young, 
and has been at work all the morning, giv- 
ing out corn for fodder.” 

“ But he oughtn’t, Karl ; it isn’t good for 
young folks to sleep after dinner. See, 
there he comes ! Now send him some- 
where, past the window, so that I can see 
how he goes.” 

“ Triddelsitz,” called Habermann from 
the window, “go to the stables, and tell 
Jochen Boldt to be ready to take Herr In- 
spector Brasig home, by and by. He may 
take the the two fore-horses ” 

“ Bon ! ” said Fritz Triddelsitz, and 
skipped vivaciously along the causeway. 

“ God preserve us ! ” cried Brasig, “ what 
an action I Just look how awkward he is 1 
See the weakness of his ankles, and the 
thinness of his flanks 1 It will take you a 
good while to fat him up. He is a grey- 
hound, Karl, a regular greyhound, and, 
mark my words, you will make nothing of 
him.” 

“ Eh, Brasig, he is so young, he will out- 
grow these peculiarities.” 


“ Outgrow them ? Sleeps in the after- 
noon ? Says ‘ Bong ’ to you ? And now 
look here — for all the world he is coming 
back again, and hasn’t been near the 
stables.” 

Fritz was coming back again, to be 
sure ; he came to the window and said, 
“Herr Inspector, didn’t you say Jochen 
Boldt should go ? ” 

“Yes,” said Brasig snappishly, “Jochen 
Boldt shall go, and shall not forget what 
he is told. You see now, Karl, am I 
right ? ” • 

“Brasig,” said Habermann, a little an- 
noyed by Fritz’s stupidity, “let him go! 
we are not all alike ; and, though it may 
cost a good deal of trouble, we will bring 
him through.” 

Vexation was an infrequent guest with 
Habermann; and, whenever it came, he 
showed it the door. Thought, anxiety, 
sorrow of heart, he admitted, when they 
overpowered him ; but this obtrusive 
beggar, which borrows something from 
each of the others, and lies all day at a 
man’s ears, with all sorts of complaints 
and torments, he thrust out of doors, 
headforemost. So it was not long before 
the conversation became lively and pleas- 
ant again, and continued so until Bras'® 
departed. 








SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER VII. 

The winter passed away without any 
special incidents. Habermann was accus- 
tomed to a uniform life, and desired no 
other, for himself; but the young people 
were sometimes wearied by it, and by their 
seclusion, especially Franz von Rambow. 
Fritz Triddelsitz had his aunt, the Frau 
Pastorin, close by, and a little farther off, 
his dear mother at Rahnstadt and, nearer 
than either, Marie Holler the house-keeper, 
who often comforted him with a bit of 
roast goose, or a morsel of sausage, so that 
they soon came into friendly relations. 
Sometimes they were together like mother 
and child, for Marie was seven years older 
than Fritz, — she was four and twenty; 
sometimes they seemed more like lovers, 
for four and twenty is no great age, after 
all; and Fritz instead of learning his Latin 
at school, had fed upon romances, and had 
been a regular customer at the circulating 
library', so that he was quite well informed 
about such matters, and as his father had 
advised him to study human nature, and 
Habermann often repeated the advice, he 
thought it a good opportunity to improve 
his knowledge of love-affairs ; but don’t be 
alarmed, there is nothing serious coming — 
nothing more tender than roast goose and 
sausage. 

Habermann had no occasion to trouble 
himself about Fritz ; it was only for Franz 
he felt anxious. He had taken him already 
once to the parsonage, and when Christ- 
mas time came, they were invited there to 
spend Christmas eve. The young Herr 
accepted, — Fritz had gone home to Rahn- 
stadt for the- holidays — and as they drove 
up in the sleigh — for it was fine sleighing 
— to the front door, which opened into the 
living-room, there stood the little, plump 
Frau Pastorin, motioning with both hand 
and foot : — 

44 No, Habermann, no ! you mustn’t come 
in here 1 Herr von Rambow, if you will 
have the kindness, just go round to my 
Pastor’s study.” 

And, as they entered the study, Louise 
sprang towards her father, and kissed him, 
and whispered in his ear what presents she 
had made, and how she had arranged them, 
and who was to knock the Yule raps, and 
had scarcely time to give Herr von Ram- 
bow a hasty courtesy. But the Pastor 
made up for her neglect; he shook the 
young man’s hand, and said that he was 
heartily glad that he had come to celebrate 
this joyous feast with them. “But,” he 
added, “ we must be under subjection ; my 
Regina takes the rule to-day, and her head 


47 

is never clearer and brighter than on Christ- 
mas eve.” 

He was right in that ; for every few mo- 
ments her head was thrust in at the door : 
“ Wait just a minute longer ! Sit per- 
fectly still! The bell will ring directly.” 
And once she whisked through the room, 
with a blue package peeping from under 
her apron, and then in the next room they 
heard her merry laugh. 

At last, at last, the bell rung, and the 
door flew open, and there stood the Christ- 
mas tree, in the centre of the room, on the 
round table, and under the tree were as 
many dishes full of apples and nuts and 
ginger-bread as there were members of the 
family, and two more, for Habermann and 
the young gentleman. The Frau Pastorin 
fluttered about the tree, and then taking 
Habermann and Herr von Rambow by the 
hand, she led them up to the table. “ This 
is your dish, and this is yours, and Louise 
and my Pastor have already found theirs ! ” 
then turning around, she cried, “ Now all 
come in 1 ” for the Pastor’s man, George, 
and the two maids, Rika and Diirten, were 
all standing at the door, waiting for their 
Christmas boxes, — “ now all come in ! 
Where the bright dollars are sticking in 
the apples, those are your dishes, and the 
red cloth lying here is for the. two maids, 
and this red vest is for George. And Lou- 
ise — yes, yes, yes ! ” She could go no 
further, for Louise had grasped her about 
the neck, and was kissing the words from 
her lips, and in her hand she held a bright 
cherry merino dress : “ This is from you, 
mother ! ” 

Here it must be confessed, the Frau Pas- 
torin so far forgot herself as to equivocate, 
not in words, to be sure, but by shaking 
her head, and nodding towards her Pastor, 
and Louise sprang upon him : “ Then it is 
you I ” 

But he also shook his head, and pro- 
fessed to know nothing about it, and 
Louise grasped her own father by the arm, 
and cried : “ No, no ! It is from you ! ” 

The good old inspector was much affect- 
ed at receiving from his child the thanks 
which were due to others ; he stroked her 
soft hair, and his eyes grew moist, as he 
took her hand and led her back to the Frau 
Pastorin, saying, “ No, darling, no ! Your 
thanks belong here.” 

But the Frau Pastorin had no time now 
to receive thanks. She was busy with her 
Pastor, whom she had drawn aside to see 
how his new dressing-gown fitted. It was 
fortunate that it did not happen to be a 
pair of pantaloons, for in the joy and ex- 
citement of this evening, the impropriety 


48 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


would never have occurred to her mind. 
The gown fitted well, and looked finely, 
and she drew back a couple of steps and 
looked at her Pastor, like a child when it 
has set up a new doll in the sofa-corner, 
and as she turned round she saw a package 
lying on her dish, which her Pastor had 
secretly placed there. Hastily she untied 
the string, and took off the wrappings, 
chattering all the while. What could it 
be ? How strangely it felt ! Somebody 
was surely playing a joke on her, — and at 
last, there was a beautiful black silk dress. 
Now the joy was at its height. Haber- 
mann had found a new pipe on his plate, 
and held it in his mouth, puffing content- 
edly, although it was quite cold, the Pas- 
tor lay back in the sofa-corner, like the 
new doll, and the Frau Pastorin and Louise 
walked up and down the room holding up 
the stuff for their new dresses, and looking 
down at them, as if the dresses were al- 
ready finished. 

And Franz ! Franz sat a little aside, 
and a slight sadness stole over him, at the 
thought of the joys he had missed since his 
childhood. He rested his head on his 
hand, and the Christmas eves of his life 
passed before him ; kind friends and rel- 
atives brought him their greetings, but 
the two faoes which hung in his room, 
under the wreath of immortelles, were 
missing. He felt that he did not belong 
here, but he would not disturb their joy ; 
he recalled his thoughts, and as he raised 
his head he looked into a pair of great, 
beautiful, childish eyes, full of thought and 
compassion, as if they had read his heart. 

“ Yule rap 1 ” cried Rika’s loud voice, and 
a package flew in at the door, “ For the Frau 
Pastorin.” It was a nice roller, and nobody 
knew where it came from. “ Yule rap ! ” 
again ; and this time it was a new stuffed 
cushion for the Pastor’s arm-chair ; but no- 
body had made it. Oh, what fibs they told 
that evening at the parsonage I “ Yule 
rap 1 ” There was a letter for the Frau Pas- 
torin, and in it a ticket with a number, re- 
ferring to another ticket up-stairs, and 
when she hadgot this, it referred her to 
another down in the cellar, and that to an- 
other, and another, — and if the Frau Pas- 
torin wanted the pretty embroidered collar 
designed for her, she must chase it all over 
the house, to find it, at last, close by, in 
her husband’s boot-leg. Another “Yule 
rap 1 ” Ah, that was a great package 1 “ To 
the Herr Pastor,” it was addressed, but 
when the first wrapper was taken off, it 
was for the Frau Pastorin, and then for 
George, and then for Rika, and finally for 
Louise, and when the last paper had been 


taken off, there was a little work-table, 
exactly such a work-table as her father 
had given years ago to her dead mother. 
He knew where it came from, no one else. 

Then another “ Yule rap ! ” Books for 
Louise. “ Yule rap ! ” again — an embroi- 
dered foot-cover for Habermann. All this 
time Rika had not been visible. Now she 
came in and gathered up the wrapping 
paper and string. Then the door opened 
once more, a clear bell-like voice cried 
“ Yule rap ! ” and, as the package was ex- 
amined, it was found to be “ For the Hon- 
ourable Herr Franz von Rambow,” and 
while they were looking, a little maiden 
crept softly in on tip-toe, a great joy beam- 
ing in her face. 

Franz was taken by surprise, but when 
he opened his package, he found a letter 
from his youngest cousin Fidelia, and the 
three unmarried daughters of the Kammer- 
rath had sent him their Christmas gifts — 
Albertine a smoking-cushion, and he never 
smoked on a sofa, — Bertha a saddle-cover, 
and a3 yet he had no horse, — and Fidelia 
a cigar-case, and in fact he never smoked 
at all. But what of that ? Whether one 
can use them or not, it is all one ; not the 
gift, but the giver, and the good-will is 
the important thing at Christmas time. 
Franz no longer felt so lonely ; and as he 
saw the pleasure in Louise’s face, when 
she returned, he laughed and joked with her 
about his presents, and, whether she liked 
it or not, she must receive his thanks, be- 
cause he had recognized her voice. 

Rika came in again, saying, “ Frau Pas- 
torin, they are all here.” 

“ So ? Then we will go out.” 

“No, dear Regina,” said the Pastor, 
“ let them come in.” 

“ Oh, Pastor, they will bring in so much 
snow on their feet ! ” 

“ Never mind 1 Rika will get up early 
to-morrow morning, and clean it all up. 
Eh, Rika?” 

To be sure, Rika would do it gladly ; so 
the door was opened, and in came head 
after head, flaxen heads and dark heads, 
all the little people in the village, and they 
stood there rubbing their noses, and open- 
ing their eyes wider and wider, and stared 
at the apples and ginger-nuts, with their 
mouths also wide open, as if to invite the 
dainties to walk in. 

“ So l ” said Frau Pastorin, “ now let the 
godchildren come first. Habermann,” 
added she, “ we are next to their parents, 
my Pastor and I, in fact we are nearest to 
our godchildren.” And more than half 
of the company pressed forward, for the 
Pastor and his wife had stood godparents 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


to at least half the village children. One 
boy, who wanted to deceive, pushed for- 
ward with the others, that was Jochen 
Ruhrdanz, who had said last year that the 
godchildren got more than the others ; 
but Stina Wasmuths noticed him, and 
pushed him back, saying, “ You are not a 
godchild,” so that his impudent attempt 
was unsuccessful. 

Then the Herr Pastor came forward, 
with a pile of books under his arm, and all 
the godchildren, who had during the win- 
ter come to him for instruction, received 
every one a hymn-book, and the others 
received writing-books and slates and 
primers and catechisms, according as they 
needed them, and all the children said, 
“ Thank you, godfather I ” but those who 
had hymn-books said, “ Thank you very 
much, Herr Pastor.” That was an old 
custom. 

Then came the Frau Pastorin. “Sol I 
will take the nuts ; Louise, you take the 
ginger-nuts, and, Herr von Rainbow, will 
you take the apple-basket ? And now, each 
m his turn 1 Come, children, put your- 
selves in rows, and hold your dishes 
ready.” 

It was not a very quiet proceeding, 
there was some pushing and shoving, for 
each one wished to be in the front row, 
and each held out whatever he had 
brought, to receive his Christmas gift. 
The little girls had their aprons, but the 
boys had brought anything they could lay 
hands on ; one had a platter, another a 
peck-measure, a third his father’s hat, and 
one a great corn-sack, which he evidently 
expected to get almost if not quite full. 
Now began the dividing. 

“ There, there, there — hold 1 ” said the 
Frau Pastorin, as she came to a mischiev- 
ous rogue of a boy. “ Herr von Rambow, 
that boy is to have no apples, because he 
helped himself from the garden, last sum- 
mer.” 

“ Oh, Frau Pastorin ” 

“ Boy, didn’t I see you myself, up in the 
great apple-tree by the wall, knocking off 
the apples with a stick ? ” 

“ But, ah, Frau Pastorin ” 

“Not a word! Boys who steal apples 
can’t expect to have any at Christmas.” 
So she went on, but stopped again when 
she came to Jochen Ruhrdanz. “Didn’t 
I see you, last week, fighting with Chris- 
tian Rusborn, before the parsonage, so 
that my Rika had to go out and separate 
you ? ” 

“ Yes, Frau Pastorin, but he said ” 

“ Hush ! Louise, he gets no ginger- 
nuts.” 


49 

“Yes, Frau Pastorin, but we made it 
all up again.” 

“ Ah ! Then you may give him some, 
Louise.” 

So they went through the rows, and 
then the children went off with their 
Christmas boxes, saying only, “ Good even- 
ing ! ” for thanks were not the custom, at 
this stage of the proceedings. 

When they were gone, quite a different 
set of people came coughing and limping 
in at the door ; these were the old spin- 
ning-women, and broom-tyers, and wood- 
en-shoemakers, out of the village, and 
also some, who were no longer capable of 
any work. With these the Pastor spoke 
a few friendly, Christian words, and the 
Frau Pastorin gave each one a great loaf 
of plain, wholesome cake, and they went 
away, wishing God’s blessing upon the 
Pastor and his wife. 

About nine o’clock the Pastor’s George 
brought Habermann’s sleigh to the door, 
and the two guests said “ Good night ! ” 
and, as Habermann came out, he went up 
silently to the horses, and took off their 
bells, for up in the church-tower other 
bells were ringing which rung for the 
whole world. 

They drove slowly through the village. 
Here and there burned a Christmas candle 
in the cottages of the poor laborers, and 
up in the heavens God had lighted up his 
great Christmas tree with a thousand 
shining lamps, and the world lay stretched 
out beneath like a Christmas table, and 
winter had spread it with a cloth of whit- 
est snow, that spring, summer and autumn 
might cover with Christmas gifts. 

As they came out of the village, Franz 
noticed the lighted windows of Pomuchels- 
kopp’s house ; “ They are keeping Christ 
mas there, too,” said he. They gave 
presents ; but it was not a real Christmas 
after all. 

Pomuchelskopp had bought nothing at 
Rahnstadt; everything came from Ros- 
tock. “ Always noble ! ” said he. He told 
also how much Malchen and Salchen’s 
clothes had cost, and when Malchen heard 
that Salchen’s dress was two dollars dearer 
than har’s, she felt badly, and Salchen 
thought herself quite superior to her sis- 
ter. And Philipping and Nanting began 
to quarrel about a sugar doll, and when 
Pomuchelskopp said that his favorite, 
Philipping, should have it, Nanting was 
angry, and threw a toy-box at Philipping, 
which unfortunately hit the great looking- 
glass, and broke it into a thousand pieces. 
Then their mother took the government 
into her hands, and got the strap out of 


4 


50 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


the cupboard, and punished Nanting first 
for his misdeeds, and then Philipping, and 
afterwards the other boys for company. 
And not once in the whole evening did 
she say “ Poking ” to her husband ; not 
even when he brought out the new winter 
hat with great feathers, that he had 
bought for her ; she said only, “ Ivopp, do 
you want to make me look like a scare- 
crow ? ” 

As Franz went to bed that night, he said 
to himself that he had never spent so 
pleasant a Christmas eve, and when he 
asked himself the reason, the joyous face 
of Louise Habermann appeared before his 
mind’s eye, and he said, “ Yes, yes, such a 
joyous child belongs properly to Christ- 
mas time 1 ” 

Between Christmas and New Year’s, a 
very unusual event occurred. Jochen 
Niissler’s blue cloak with seven capes 
drove over to Pumpelhagen in the “ phan- 
tom,” and when Habermann went out 
there sat Jochen himself inside the coat. 
He could not get out, — Oh, no ! — he had 
been from home an hour and a half al- 
ready ; but he had been at the parsonage, 
and they were all coming to spend St. 
Sylvester’s eve, and Brasig also, and he 
wanted his brother-in-law to come, and 
bring the two young people with him, and 
he would do what he could to entertain 
them with a big bowl of punch. 

Having uttered this long speech, he 
stopped abruptly, and when Habermann 
had accepted the invitation, and Christian 
had turned the horses’ heads, a murmur 
came out of the seven capes, which sounded 
like, “ Good-bye, brother-in-law ! ” but 
Christian looked back and said, “You 
must all come to coffee, Herr Inspector 1 
The Frau told me so expressly.” 

Franz forwarded the invitation to Fritz, 
who was still at Rahnstadt, and wrote him 
that, as his vacation would be over, he 
could come to Rexow the last day of the 
year, and go home with them to Pumpel- 
hagen. 

As Habermann and Franz drove up to 
the Rexow farm house, at the appointed 
time, — it was a wet day, — there stood 
Jochen in the door, in his new black dress- 
coat and trousers, a Christmas present 
from his wife, and the red smoking-cap 
which Mining had given him, looking for 
all the world like a stuffed bullfinch. 

“ Look alive, Jochen,” called Brasig 
from within, “ and do the * honneurs,’ that 
Karl’s young nobleman may have some 
opinion of your manners.” 

After Jochen had received them, and 
the greetings with the family and the 


Pastor and his wife were over, Frau Niiss- 
ler began to talk to her brother about her 
domestic affairs, the Pastor engaged in 
conversation with the young Herr von 
Rambow, the Frau Pastorin asked the 
little girls about their Christmas presents. 
Jochen sat silently in his old corner by the 
stove, and Brasig in his great seal-skin 
boots which came nearly up to his waist, 
went from one to another, as if it were 
Christmas eve over again, and he were 
playing St. Nicholas, to frighten the chil- 
dren. 

The sun looked in at the window now 
and then, the room was warm and com- 
fortable, the coffee-steam rose in little 
clouds and mingled with the smoke- 
wreaths from the Pastor’s pipe, till it 
seemed like a summer day, with light, 
feathery clouds floating in the sun shine. 
Only, near the stove, it looked as if a 
thunder-shower was coming up, for there 
sat Jochen, smoking as if for a wager. 
His wife had taken away the “ Fleigen 
Markur ” from his tobacco-pouch, and 
filled it for the occasion with “Fine old 
mild,” and he could not get the strength 
of the “ Markur ” from this more delicate 
quality of tobacco, without using a double 
portion. 

But a cloud was coming up outside, not 
exactly in the heavens, nor yet from the 
earth beneath, — which would disturb the 
repose of this quiet room. 

One of Frau Niissler’s maids came in 
to say that there was a man outside with 
a cart, who had brought a travelling trunk 
from the apothecary at Rahnstadt, and 
where should it be put ? 

“ God bless me ! ” cried the Frau Pas- 
torin, “ that is Fritz’s trunk. You will see, 
Pastor, my brother-in-law is so inconsider- 
ate, he has let the boy come on horseback 
again. Nobody ought to ride that wild 
horse, Habermann.” 

“ Oh, don’t be troubled, Frau Pastorin,” 
said Habermann, laughing a little, “the 
horse is not so bad ” 

“ Ah, Habermann, but I saw him be- 
fore, when he first came to Pumpelhagen ; 
the creature would not stir a step.” 

“ Frau Pastorin,” said Brasig, “it is not 
so bad if a beast is balky as when the ras- 
cal takes to running ; then the Latin riders 
used to fall off.” 

But the little Frau Pastorin could not 
rest; she opened the window, and asked 
the man who had driven the cart whether 
Fritz was riding, and was the horse very 
vicious ? 

“ Like a lamb,” was the reply. “ If 
he does nothing to the horse, the horse 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


will do nothing to him. He will be here 
directly.” 

That was comforting, so the Frau Pas- 
torin seated herself again on the sofa, say- 
ing, with a sigh, — 

“ My poor sister ! I tremble for her, 
whenever I set eyes on the boy. He plays 
too many stupid jokes.” 

“ He will be up to something of the sort, 
now,” said Briisig. 

Briisig was right. In the time between 
Christmas and New Year’s Fritz had ac- 
complished a great deal of folly, all the 
time in his wonderful inspector suit ; for, 
though the weather had been cold and dis- 
agreeable, he had worn the green hunting- 
jacket, white leather breeches, and yellow 
top-boots, not merely in the day-time, but 
occasionally through the night. Once, at 
least, after he had come home late from 
a lively company of young farmers, the 
maid-servant found him next morning ly- 
ing in bed in his boots and spurs. He had 
met an old friend that evening, Gust 
Prebberow by name, who went round half 
the year in yellow top-boots, and the 
pleasure of seeing him, together with the 
lively, agricultural conversation, had been 
a little too much for Fritz. Gust Preb- 
berow had given him all sorts of useful 
advice, how to manage “ the old man,” as 
he called Habermann, and to pull the 
wool over his eyes, and had told incidents 
from his own experience in the manage- 
ment of farm-boys ; and, after discussing 
these branches of agriculture, they came 
to the subject of horses. Fritz related his 
adventures with the old chestnut, who was 
naturally a very gifted horse, and good- 
natured, for the most part, but like his 
own father the apothecary, old Chestnut 
had always been suspicious of him, and on 
the look-out for mischief. He had evi- 
dently made up his mind that Fritz knew 
nothing about the management of horses, 
although Fritz had made repeated efforts 
to bring him to a better way of thinking. 
Hia greatest fault was that he positively 
would not stir a step farther than he 
pleased, neither kicks nor kindness, whip- 
ping nor spurring, could alter this deter- 
mination when once he had taken it into 
his stupid head. 

“ And do you allow that ? ” said Gust 
Prebberow. “ Now, brother, I will tell 
you what to do. See, next time you 
mount him, take a good sized earthen pot 
full of water, and ride gently along just as 
usual, till you come to the place where he 
balks, and then give it to him with the 
spurs in the ribs, and break the pot over 
his head, — all at once ! — so that the 


51 

fragments of the pot will clatter down, 
and the water will run into his eyes.” 

Fritz paid close attention to this advice, 
and when he started to-day in his smart 
inspector suit, he took the bridle in his 
left hand, the riding-whip under his left 
arm, and in his right hand a great jar 
full of water. He could not ride fast, 
without spilling the water, and old Chest- 
nut had no desire to run away, so they 
jogged along very peaceably until they 
reached Rexow farm. 

Here Fritz wished to ride up to the 
house in a brisk trot, so he drove the spurs 
into old Chestnut’s ribs, but Chestnut, 
having a bad disposition and still bearing 
Fritz malice, on account of his adventure 
in the Pastor’s mud-puddle, all of a sudden 
stood still. Now was the time. A stroke 
of the whip behind, spurs in his ribs, and 
crash! the pot between his ears. “Uff!” 
grunted Chestnut, shaking his head, in 
token that he would not stir a step, but 
the blow must have stunned him a little, 
for he lay down directly. Fritz went too, 
of course, and though he had sense enough 
to fall clear of the horse, he could not pre- 
vent himself from lying at his side. 

The company in Frau Niissler’s parlor 
had witnessed the scene, and at first the 
little Frau Pastorin had lamented her poor 
sister’s misfortune, but as she observed 
oli Chestnut’s quiet behaviour, and saw 
Fritz safely landed upon the soft and some- 
what cold “ bed of honor,” which the rain 
and dew of heaven and Jochen Niissler’s 
dung-heap had prepared for him, she was 
compelled to join in the general laughter, 
and said to her Pastor, “ It is good enough 
for him ! ” 

“ Yes,” said Br'asig, “ and if he takes cold, 
it won’t hurt him. What business has he 
to behave so with that old creature ! ” 

Fritz now approached, looking on one 
side like a plough-boy, black and muddy, 
on the other still smart and shining. 

“ You are a dainty sight, my son,” cried 
the Frau Pastorin, from the open window. 
“ Don’t come in here like that ! Fortu- 
nately, your trunk has arrived, and you can 
change your clothes.” 

He followed her advice, and entered the 
room, before long, in his most distinguished 
apparel, a blue dress-coat and long black 
trousers, like a young proprietor, but in 
great vexation, which Brasig’s jokes and 
his aunt’s observations did not tend to di- 
minish. Franz, on the contrary, was in 
the most cheerful temper. He joked to 
his heart’s content with the three little 
girls, and looked at their Christmas gifts, 
laughing himself half dead as the little 


52 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


twins finally dragged forward a great 
foot-sack, which Uncle Brasig had given 
them, “that the little rogues might keep 
their toes warm, and not get the cursed 
Podagra.” Franz had never in his life 
enjoyed opportunities of intercourse with 
little girls younger than himself, and this 
confidential chatter and contented mirth- 
fulness, making merry over things which 
in his eyes seemed nothing at all, made 
such an impression upon him, that when 
they sat down to supper, he kept among 
the little folks, decidedly refusing the 
pressing invitations of Frau Niissler, who 
wished him, as a nobleman, to take a high- 
er place. 

That was a joyous evening meal; talk 
went briskly back and forth, every one 
taking his share except Fritz and Jochen. 
Fritz could not get over his annoyance, 
and was vexed that he could not enjoy 
himself as Franz was doing. Jochen said 
nothing to be sure, but he laughed contin- 
ually ; if Brasig merely opened his mouth, 
Jochen stretched his from ear to ear, and 
when the punch was brought in, and Lin- 
ing, as the most judicious of the little 
ones, undertook the task of serving it out, 
he found a voice, and endeavored to dis- 
charge his duties as host, saying now and 
then very quietly, “ Lining, help Brasig ! ” 

The punch helped Fritz, also, to the use 
of his tongue. He was still in ill-humor, 
especially at Franz’s undignified behav- 
ior. The little girls had hitherto seemed 
to him very small fry, but if one talked to 
them at all, one should employ a higher 
style of conversation. Accordingly he 
took up the role which he had played at 
the Rahnstadt ball, when he had danced 
with the burgomeister’s daughter, aged 
twenty-seven, and addressed Louise as 
“ Fraulein Habermann.” The child looked 
at him in astonishment, and as he again 
uttered his “Fraulein,” she laughed inno- 
cently in his face : “ I am no Fraulein, I 
am only Louise Habermann,” — and Franz 
could not help laughing also. 

That was annoying for Fritz, but he 
knew what was proper, and how one should 
converse with ladies ; he refused to be 
snubbed, and went on relating his experi- 
ences at the ball, what he said to the bur- 
gomeister’s daughter, and what she had 
said to him, “ fraulein ” ing also the little 
twins, right and left. And as this caused 
a great titterijig and giggling among the lit- 
tle folks, he naturally talked louder and 
louder, in order to be heard, till at last 
the whole company were looking at him in 
silence. Jochen, who sat “next him, had 
turned round and stared at him, as if to 


see how it were possible that one human 
being could talk so much. Brasig looked 
over Jochen’s shoulder with an uncom- 
monly happy face, rejoicing at his own 
knowledge of human nature, and nodding 
now and then to Habermann, as if to say, 
“ You see, Karl, didn’t I say so ? A good- 
for-nothing puppy ! ” 

Habermann, annoyed, looked down at his 
plate, Frau Niissler was in great perplexity 
to know what she ought to do as hostess, 
in such an emergency, the Pastor gently 
shook his head back and forth ; but the 
most excited of all was the little Frau 
Pastorin. She bent down her head till the 
cap-strings rustled under her chin, and 
moved uneasily on her chair, as if the 
place were too hot for her, and as Fritz fi- 
nally attempted to give a visible illustra- 
tion of the schottische, how the gentleman 
embraced the lady, she could no longer 
contain herself. She sprang up and cried, 
“ All keep still ! As his aunt, I am the 
nearest to him ! Fritz, come here directly ! ” 
And as he slowly rose, and very coolly and 
politely walked round to her, she took 
hold of his coat and pulled him along: 
“ My dearest boy, come out here a mo- 
ment ! ” With that, she drew him out of 
the door. The company inside heard frag- 
ments of a short sermon, which was inter- 
rupted by no reply, and then the door 
opened and the Frau Pastorin led Fritz 
back again, and, pointing to his place, 
said, “ Now sit down quietly, and behave 
like a reasonable being.” 

Fritz followed her advice, that is to say 
the first part of it ; the second was not so 
easy, and ought not to have been expect- 
ed. After fashionable talk, reasonable talk 
seemed to him very tame, and why should 
he spoil a good beginning by a bad ending ? 

As Franz and the little girls gradually 
resumed their lively chatter, and the older 
people travelled on in the country road of 
reasonable talk, with a jolt now and then, 
when Brasig drove against a stone, Fritz 
sat and grumbled to himself, feeding his 
anger with punch, which served as oil to 
the flame, and inwardly called Franz “ a 
crafty rascal,” and the little girls, “ foolish 
children,” who understood nothing of po- 
lite conversation. 

In spite of this, and of the contempt 
which he felt for such childish intercourse, 
his anger was mingled with a little jeal- 
ousy at not being himself “ cock of the 
walk,” and as he perceived that Franz 
seemed most taken with Louise Haber- 
mann, he vowed secretly that that should 
come to an end; he himself, Fritz Trid- 
delsitz, would see what he could do, pro- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


53 


vided, that is, that his aunt would keep out 
of the way. 

By this time it was growing late, but no 
one thought how late it was, until sudden- 
ly a strange figure appeared in the room, 
wrapped from top to toe in all sorts of 
warm garments, and he blew a horn, which 
was fearful to hear, and then began to 
sing, which was more fearful still. It was 
Gust Stowsand, who was not more than 
half-witted, and, because he was fit for 
nothing else, Jochen Niissler had made him 
night-watchman. And the boys and girls 
looked in at the door, to see how Just 
would manage his business, and they 
laughed, and pushed and pulled one an- 
other back and forth. Then congratula- 
tions began, and all wished each other 
“ Happy New Year ! ” and after all was 
quiet again, the Herr Pastor made a little 
speech, which began quite playfully but 
ended seriously, how with every year one 
came a step nearer to the grave, and one 
must comfort oneself by this, that with 
every year new knots were tied, and 
friendship and love bound more closely 
together. As he finished his good words, 
he looked around the circle ; the little 
Frau Pastorin had slipped her arm in his, 
Jochen stood by his wife, ILibermann and 
Briisig held each other by the hand, the 
two little twin-apples had their arms 
around each other, and Franz stood by 
Louise Habermann. Fritz was nowhere 
to be seen, he had gone off in his vexation. 

So ended the year 1839. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

When Easter came, Briisig set out for 
the water-cure, and the Kammerrath ar- 
rived at Pumpelhagen, with his three 
daughters, Albertine, Bertha, and Fidelia. 

“ He will never go away again, he is 
near his end,” said Habermann to himself, 
and Franz thought the same, and they 
spoke sadly of it to each other as they 
sat together the evening after his arrival. 
Franz naturally took his meals after this 
with his uncle and cousins, and Haber- 
mann found himself very lonely in the old 
farm-house, he had become so accustomed 
to the young man’s society, and found it so 
pleasant. 

During the first week the Kammerrath 
had a visitor. Pomuchelskopp came, in his 
blue dress-coat with bright buttons, and 
in his new coach, which was rendered 
more splendid than ever, since it was 
adorned with a coat of arms, which he had 
ordered from Vienna for half a louis-d’or. 
It represented a haddock’s head (Dorsch 


Kopp) on a blue field (Fell), which the 
stupid laborers, who understood nothing 
about haddocks and blue fields called “ a 
block head (das Kopp) in a blue coat” 
(Fell) ; having possibly discerned a per- 
sonal resemblance between the escutcheon 
and their master. 

He had given up the idea of intercourse 
with Brasig’s Ilerr Count, and no other 
families of nobility lived in the neighbor- 
hood, so he found the Kammerrath’s arri- 
val quite apropos. But the man was un- 
fortunate. As he made known his errand 
to Daniel Sadenwater, the Kammerrath’s 
old servant, in a melancholy tone — that 
he felt constrained to make personal in- 
quiries after the Herr Kammerrath, and 
added that he had known the Herr Kam- 
merrath very well at Rostock, — old Dan- 
iel went off with a peaceful face to an- 
nounce him, but came back with a face 
quite as placid to say that the Herr Kam- 
merrath regretted he was not in a state of 
health to receive callers. That was truly 
vexatious for Pomuchelskopp, and he sat 
all the afternoon sulking in the sofa-corner, 
and his dear wife, who always became so 
cheerful and affectionate on such occasions, 
called him “ Poking ” incessantly, which 
certainly should have amply compensated 
for his disappointment. 

The Kammerrath, in his illness, felt the 
need of no other society than he found at 
home. His two oldest daughters thought 
of nothing else from morning to night but 
to amuse and comfort him, and the young- 
est, who was the pet child of the whole 
family, and who continued a little too 
young to suit her elder sisters, and perhaps 
prided herself a little upon her childlike 
joyousness, sought for means to enliven 
him. Franz, in the kindness of his heart, 
had assumed the office of secretary to his 
uncle, and took upon himself all the little 
annoying cares, which are not wanting in 
a household where sickness has entered ; 
but the Kammerrath took especial pleasure 
in the society of Habermann, and consult- 
ed him not only about farming matters, 
but in all his affairs and perplexities. 

Habermann had little time, now, to visit 
at the parsonage, and if Louise wished to 
speak to her father, she must seek him in 
the fields, or at noon in the farm-house. 
So it happened that she often came in the 
way of the Fraulein Fidelia, and as it is an 
old story that young girls who are grow- 
ing to be rather old girls, hovering on the 
line between youth and age, always incline 
to the youthful side, and enjoy the society 
of those younger than themselves, it was 
quite natural that Fraulein Fidelia should 


54 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


take a great fancy to Louise, and in a little 
while they were the closest friends. 

It is generally a good thing for a young 
girl to have such a friend, older than her- 
self, but I would not say it is always so. 
It depends greatly upon the circumstances 
of the older lady. Louise took no harm 
from the intimacy, for Friiulein Fidelia was 
very kind-hearted; she was also a little 
tired of the frivolity and ceremony of 
high society, and when her blessed mama 
— the gracious old lady, as Daniel Saden- 
water called her, — had endeavored to 
make her more ceremonious and dignified, 
the Kammerrath had always taken his dar- 
ling’s part. He was a little to blame for 
her childishness ; she had always frol- 
icked with him, from her babyhood, and 
had laughed away his cares and troubles, 
and she kept on doing so from force of 
habit. 

She spoke of this daily task of amusing 
her father in such a manner that Louise 
thought of nothing but how to comfort and 
assist her ; and what might have been dan- 
gerous under different circumstances be- 
came now rather a preventive of contagion. 
Louise had too much good sense to look 
among Friiulein Fidelia’s little fripperies 
of behavior for manners suitable to her- 
self. But she not only received benefit, 
she gave it. If Louise had little knowledge 
of the world of fashion, Friiulein Fidelia 
had as little of the world in which she lived 
and moved — and there Louise could give 
the best instruction. 

But a vexatious thing was first to occur, 
which gave Friiulein Fidelia great annoy- 
ance. It happened in this way. The 
Kammerrath had sent to Schwerin for a 
beautiful dress, for her birth-day present, 
Friiulein Albertine had given her a new 
summer hat, and Friiulein Bertha, a pretty 
shawl, and when the presentation was over, 
the two elder sisters had arrayed their pet 
in the new finery, and stood looking at her 
right and left, admiring her fine appear- 
ance, and Friiulein Bertha exclaimed, “ She 
is a little fairy ! ” (fee). 

Corlin Kegels, one of the maids, was go- 
ing through the room at the moment, and 
had nothing better to do than to say in the 
kitchen : “ What do you think, girls ? 
Friiulein Bertha says that our little Friiu- 
lein looks like a little cow (vieh). The 
joke took, and Friiulein Fidelia was soon 
known among the servants only as “the 
little cow.” Of course it must come to her 
ears, sooner or later, and then there was a 
great uproar and a great investigation, 
and Corlin Kegels, in spite of her weeping 
and begging, was turned out of doors. 


Louise came in just then, and met Corlin 
crying on the door-steps, and found Friiu- 
lein Fidelia crying in the parlor. One 
word led to another, and when Louise knew 
the whole affair, she said, placing her hands 
compassionately on the Friiulein’s shoulders, 
“ Ah, the poor things didn’t mean any 
harm.” 

“Yes, indeed they did,” cried the Friiu- 
lein, hastily. “ The rough, unmannerly 
common people ! ” 

“ No, no ! Don’t say that ! ” exclaimed 
Louise, really distressed. “ Our people are 
not rough ; they have as much feeling as 
distinguished people. My father says one 
must learn to know them, and that is not 
so easy, their language separates them 
from their masters.” 

“Very likely,” said Fidelia. “I call 
‘ little cow ’ a rough, coarse expression.” 

“ It was a misunderstanding,” said 
Louise. “ The word ‘ fee ’ is unknown to 
them, and this sounds like it, and seemed 
comical to them. They had no idea of 
offending you. Dear Friiulein, you are the 
idol'of all your servants.” 

This last sugar-plum, which Louise ad- 
ministered with no thought of flattery, 
pacified the Friiulein, and at last, in the 
kindness of her heart, she resolved upon a 
nearer acquaintance with her people, and 
Corlin Kegels was taken again into favor. 

The Friiulein made inquires of Franz, 
and he praised the Pumpelhagen people 
highly, the Kammerrath, also, gave them a 
good character, and said that their ances- 
tors had lived on the estate since the 
memory of man. “ The first Ilerr von 
Rambow of whom we have intelligence,” 
said he, “had two servants, one of whom 
was called ‘Asel,’ and the other ‘Egel.’ 
These had many namesakes, and in time a 
great confusion arose among the different 
‘ Egels ’ and * Asels.’ One Egel would 
take home the bushel of wheat, which 
another Egel should have had, and one 
Asel would get the load of hay which 
properly belonged to another. This con- 
fusion had reached such a point under one 
of my forefathers, who — I am sorry for 
the family to confess — had a very short 
memory, that the Frau von Rambow, who 
was a good deal quicker-witted than her 
husband, undertook to remedy matters. 
She had an idea, and as she had the rule 
she could carry it out. All the fathers of 
families in the village were called together, 
one Sunday morning, and every one must 
tell his christened name and his father’s 
name, and she wrote them down, — for she 
knew how to write, — and then took the 
first letter of the christened name, and 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


55 


the father’s name together, and baptized 
the whole village. So ‘ Karl Egel ’ became 
* Kegel,’ and ‘ Pagel Egel ’ ‘ Pegel,’ and 
‘ Florian Egel ’ ‘ Flegel,’ and ‘ Vullrad 
Asel’ was changed to ‘Vasel,’ and ‘Peter 
Asel ’ to ‘ Pasel,’ and ‘ David Asel ’ to 
Dasei,’ and so on. And, it is a thing 
to be noted, the old story said the ances- 
tor of the Egels was a flax-head, and 
that of the Asels a black-head, and so 
it is among their namesakes to this day. 
And the resemblance was not merely ex- 
ternal, they inherited mental pecularities 
as well ; for the first Egel was greatly 
skilled in cutting spoons and ladles, and 
making rakes and wooden shoes, while the 
first Asel was an uncommonly fine singer, 
and the gifts have remained in the fami- 
lies, — the night-watchmen have always 
been chosen from the Asels, and the 
wheel-wrights from the Egels; you know 
at this day, Fidelia, David Dasei is the 
watchman, and Fritz Flegel is the wheel- 
wright.” 

Fraulein Fidelia was excessively pleased 
with this story, and in her restless and 
frolicsome humor she ran about to all the 
laborer’s cottages, chatting with the house- 
wives by the hour, and keeping them from 
their work, and bestowing cast-off finery 
upon the children. If Louise Habermann 
had not been with her, she would have 
given Pasel’s eleven-year-old Marie a rid- 
ing-hat with feathers and veil, and Dasel’s 
Stina, who watched the goslings in the 
duck-pond, would have got a gorgeous pair 
of light blue satin slippers. The old fa- 
thers of the village shook their heads over 
such doings ; but the old mothers defended 
her, saying that if she were not so sensi- 
ble as she might be, yet she meant well ; 
and instead of calling her merely “little 
cow,” as before, they called her “ a nice 
good, pretty little cow.” 

Pastor Behrens shook his head, also, 
when he heard of this new sort of benefi- 
cence. The Pumpelhagen people were the 
best in his parish, he said, and they had 
good reason to be, in having such a good 
old master, the Gurlitz people had suffered 
greatly from the change of propietors; 
but nothing was so bad for people as indis- 
criminate and unmerited beneficence, — 
he must talk to the Fraulein about it. 

He did so at the next opportunity ; he 
told her that the Pumpelhagen people 
were so situated that unless in case of 
sickness, or the death of a cow, or some 
other misfortune, an industrious fellow 
and a tidy housewife could take care 
of themselves, and that unnecessary favors 
only taught them to look too much to 


others for assistance. These people must 
go their own, free way, just like others 
and one must be careful of intruding into 
their concerns, even to benefit them. 

I am glad to say that Fraulein Fidelia 
saw the justice of these remarks, and lim- 
ited her benefactions in future to the 
people who could no longer help them- 
selves, to the old and the sick, and for 
these she was changed from a little 
“vieh” to a little “fee.” Louise helped 
her in these Good-Samaritan labors, and as 
Franz now and then met them in the cot- 
tages, he saw to his surprise that the little 
maiden had a good deal of experience, 
and was both wise and skilful in action, 
and that the lovely eyes rested with as 
much sweetness and compassion upon a 
poor old sick laborer’s wife, as upon him, 
that Christmas eve. He rejoiced at this, 
without rightly knowing why. 

The spring was over, summer had 
come, and one Sunday morning Haber- 
mann received a letter from Brasig, at 
Warnitz, saying that he must stay at 
home that day ; Briisig had returned from 
the water-cure and was coming to see him 
in the afternoon. So it happened ; Brasig 
came on horseback, and dismounted with 
a spring, as if he would send both feet 
through the causeway. y 

“ Ho, ho ! ” cried Habermann. “ How 
active you are, you are as quick as a 
bird 1 ” 

“ Freshly sharpened, Karl i I have made 
a new beginning.” 

“Well, old fellow, how did it go?” 
asked Habermann, when they were estab- 
lished on the sofa, and had started their 
pipes. 

“Listen, Karl! Damp, cold, soaking 
wet, that is only the beginning. They 
make a man into a frog, and before human 
nature changes to frog-nature a man suf- 
fers so much that he wishes he had come 
into the world as a frog, to begin with ; 
but it is good, for all that. You see. the 
first thing in the morning is generally 
sweating. They wrap you up in cold, wet 
cloths, and then in woolen blankets, so 
tightly that you can move nothing but 
your toes. After that they take you into 
a bathing room, ringing a bell to keep the 
ladies away, and then they put you into a 
bathing-tub, and pour three pailfuls of 
water over your bald head, if you happen 
to have one, and then you may go where 
you please. Do you think that is the end ? 
You may think so, but it is only the begin- 
ning ; but it is good, for all that. 

“ Well, then you go walking, for exer- 
cise. I have done a good deal of walki ng 


56 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


in my time, raking and harrowing and 
sowing peas, and so forth ; but I always 
had something to do. Here, however, I 
had nothing at all. And then you drink 
water from morning to night. It is just 
like pouring water through a sieve, and 
they stand there and groan, and say, ‘ Ah, 
the beautiful water 1 * Don’t you believe 

them, Karl, they are hypocrites. Water 
is bad enough, outside, but inside it is fear- 
ful ; it is good, though, for all that. 

“ Then you take a sitz-bath — can you 
imagine how that feels, four degrees 
above freezing point ? Just as if the devil 
had got you on a red-hot iron stool, and 
kept putting fresh fire under ; but then it 
is good for you. Then you walk again, 
till noon, and then you eat your dinner. 

“ But you have no conception, Karl, how 
people eat at a water-cure ! The water 
must sharpen the stomach famously. 
Karl, I have seen ladies, as slender and 
delicate as angels, who would eat three 
great pieces of steak, and potatoes — pre- 
serve us 1 enough to plant half an acre 1 
The water-doctors are to be pitied, for one 
must eat them out of house and home. 
After dinner, you drink water again, and 
then you can talk with the ladies ; for in 
the morning they won’t speak to you, they 
go about in strange disguises, some with 
wet stockings, as if they had been crabbing, 
others with their heads tied up in wet 
cloths, and their hair flying. You can talk 
to them as you please, but you will find it 
hard to get answers, unless you inquire 
about their diseases, whether they have 
had an eruption, or swellings or boils, for 
that is polite conversation at a water-cure. 
After you have amused yourself in this 
manner, you must go to the “ Tiische,” * 
but don’t think that it is black, — no, noth- 
ing but clear cold water; it is good, 
though. You must take notice, Karl, 
everything that is particularly disagree- 
able and a man’s especial horror, is good 
for the human body.” 

“You should be cured of your gout, 

then, Briisig, for you have a special horror 
of cold water.” 

“ One may see very well, Karl, that you 
have never been at a water-cure. You 
see, the doctor explained it to me at length, 
this confounded Podagra is the chief of all 
diseases, — it is the mother of all mischief, 
— and it comes from the gout-stuff that 
lodges in the bones and ferments there, 
and the gout-stuff comes from the poison- 
stuff that you swallow by way of nourish- 
ment, for example, Kiimmel and tobacco, 


* Brasil probably means “ Douche.” 
is Indian -ink. 


‘ Tiische ” 


or the things you get from the apothocary. 
And if you have the gout you must be 
sweated in wet sheets, till all the tobacco 
which you have ever smoked, and all the 
Kiimmel you have ever drank, is sweated 
out. So you see the poison-stuff goes 
away, and then the gout-stuff, and then 
the cursed Podagra itself.” 

“ Was it so with you ? ” 

“ No.” 

“No ? why didn’t you stay longer, then ? 
I would have held out till the end.” 

“Karl, you may talk. Nobody holds 
out, — no human being could. They had 
one man there who was sweated till he 
smelt so strong of tobacco that the doctor 
called the patients in, that their own noses 
might testify, and it was put down in the 
books ; but it came out afterward that the 
rogue had been smoking a cigar, which is 
forbidden, — and Kiimmel is forbidden 
also. But to go on with the daily life. 
After the Tiische, you walk again, and by 
that time it is evening. You may still 
walk about in the twilight, if you please, 
and many of the gentlemen and ladies do 
so, or you may amuse yourself in the 
house, with reading. I used to read the 
water-books which a certain Russian has 
written, his name is Frank, one of the 
chiefs of the water-doctors. Karl, there is 
everything in those books, everything in 
brief. But it is hard for a man to under- 
stand, and, on that account, I did not get 
beyond the second page. That was quite 
enough for me, for after I had read it I 
was as dizzy as if I had been standing on 
my head half an hour. Do you think, 
Karl, that fresh air is fresh air V Not a bit 
of it 1 And do you think that water out 
of your pump is water? You are quite 
mistaken! You see, fresh air is composed 
of three parts, oxygen and nitrogen and 
carbonic acid gas. And the pump water 
is composed of two parts, oxygen and hy- 
drogen. The entire water-cure system is 
founded upon fresh air and water. And 
you see, Karl, how wisely nature has pro- 
vided ; we go about in the open air, and 
we breathe in the black carbonic acid, and 
the nitrogen, for they cannot be separated, 
and then comes the water-cure and turns 
these ugly things out of doors, for the 
oxygen of the water unites with the car- 
bonic acid, and the hydrogen drives out 
the nitrogen from the body, in the sweat- 
ing process. Do you understand, Karl V ” 

“ No,” said Habermann, laughing heart- 
ily, “ not a word of it.” 

“ You shouldn’t laugh at things that you 
don’t understand, Karl. You see, I know 
the nitrogen is driven out, I have smelt it 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


57 


myself; but what becomes of the black 
carbon? That is the point, and I never 
could get beyond it, in my water-cure sci- 
ence, and do you suppose Pastor Behrens 
understands it? I asked him yesterday, 
and he knows nothing at all about it. 
But you will see, Karl, the black carbonic 
acid is still in my body, and so I shall have 
the cursed Podagra again.” 

“ But, Zachary, why didn’t you stay a 
little longer, until you were thoroughly 
cured ? ” 

“ Karl,” said Brasig, dropping his eyes, 
with a confused expression, “ it wouldn’t 
do! Something happened to me, Karl,” 
looking Habermann in the face again. 
“ You have known me since I was a child, 
have you ever noticed any disrespectful 
behavior to the ladies ? ” 

“ No indeed, Brasig, I can testify to that.” 

“ Well, then, just think how it must 
have troubled me l A week ago this last 
Friday, I had an infamous grumbling in 
my great toe, — for it always begins at the 
extremities, — and the water-doctor said, 
‘ Herr Inspector, you must have an extra 
packing. Dr. Strump’s confounded Col- 
chicum is doing the mischief, and we must 
have it out.’ So he packed me himself, 
and bandaged me up so tight that I could 
scarcely draw breath, saying I did not need 
air so much as water, and upon that he 
was going to shut the window. ‘No,’ 
said I, ‘ I understand enough to know that 
I mdst have fresh air ; leave the window 
open,’ and he did so, and went off. I lay 
there quietly, thinking no harm, when sud- 
denly I heard a humming and a buzzing, 
and as I looked up, a whole swarm of bees 
came in at the window, and the leader, — 
for I knew him, Karl, you know I am a 
bee-master, I went out one spring at Zit- 
telwitz with the schoolmaster, and took 
seven and fifty hives — and this leader 
made straight for the blanket which the 
doctor had drawn over my head. Well, 
what was I to do ? I could not stir, — I 
blew and blew at him, till I had no breath 
left ; not the slightest use. The beast fas- 
tened himself on my bald head, — for I al- 
ways left off my peruke, in order not to 
injure it — and the whole swarm came hov- 
ering over my face. I rolled myself out 
of bed, fell on the floor, struggled out of 
the blankets and wet sheets, and ran out 
of the door, with the devils after me, and 
cried for help. God be praised, the as- 
sistant of the water-doctor — the man’s 
name is Ehrfurcht, — met me, and took 
me to another room, and got me necessary 
clothing, so that after resting awhile I 
could go down into the dining-roonv that 


| is to say, with half a score bee-stings in 
my body. I began to talk to the gentle- 
men, and they laughed. I turned to one 
of the ladies, and made a friendly remark 
about the weather, and she blushed. Why 
should the weather make her blush ? I 
don’t know, nor you either, Karl. Why 
do you laugh ? I turned to another lady, 
who was a singer, and asked her very po- 
litely to sing a song, that she had sung 
every evening. What do you think she 
did, Karl ? She turned her back on me. 
As I stood there wondering what it all 
meant, the water-doctor came to me, and 
said, ‘ Herr Inspector, don’t take it ill, but 
you made yourself quite noticeable this af- 
ternoon.’ ‘ How so ? ’ said I. ‘ Yes,’ 
said he, ‘when you sprang out of the 
door, Friiulein von Hinkefuss was crossing 
the corridor, and she has told it in confi- 
dence to all the rest.’ ‘ And on that ac- 
count, am I to be deprived of all pity ? 
Shall the gentlemen laugh, and the ladies 
turn their backs on me ? I did not come 
here for that ! If Friiulein von Hinke- 
fuss had got half a score of bee-stings in 
her body, I should inquire after her every 
morning, with the greatest interest. But 
let her go ! One cannot buy sympathy in 
the market. But now come, Herr Doctor, 
and take the bee-stings out of me.’ If 
you believe me Karl, he couldn’t do it. 

‘ What,’ said I, ‘ not take a bee-sting out 
of my skin ? ‘ No,’ said he, ‘ I could , to 

be sure, but I dare not, it would be a sur- 
gical operation, and according to the Meck- 
linburg laws I am not qualified for it.’ 

‘ What ? ’ said I, ‘ you can drive the 
poison out of my bones, and not draw the 
stings out of my body ? You dare not 
touch the skin of the outer man, and you 
clear out his inside with your confounded 
water ? Iam obliged to you ! ’ and from 
that moment, Karl, I lost confidence in the 
whole concern, and without that it could 
do me no good, they say so themselves to 
everybody, when he first arrives. So I 
came away, and had the stings taken out 
by old Surgeon Metz, at Rahnstadt. And 
so ends my story of the water-cure. It is a 
good thing, though ; one gets quite a dif- 
ferent view of things, and even if the 
cursed Podagra is not cured, one gets an 
idea of what a human being can endure. 
And, Karl, I brought you home a water- 
book, you can study the science in the 
winter evenings.” 

Habermann thanked him, and the con- 
versation turned to farming matters, and 
so, by degrees, to the apprentices. 

“ How does your young gentleman get 
along ? ” inquired Brasig. 


58 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


“Very well indeed, Brasig, he is equally 
good at everything. I am only sorry that 
I cannot see more of him. He does his 
duty, wherever he is, and Daniel Saden- 
water tells me that he watches many a 
night with our poor, sick master, though 
he is very tired. He is a model young 
man. He has interest in his work, and a 
kind heart for his friends.” 

“ Well, Karl, and your greyhound ? ” 

“ Oh, he is not so bad ; he has a good 
many maggots in his head, but the youth 
is not vicious. He does what he is told, 
when he doesn’t forget it. Well ! we were 
young once ourselves.” 

“ The best of your young folks is that 
they are so hearty. I was at Christian 
Klockmann’s, you see, lately, he has a son, 
fourteen years old, just confirmed. He is 
tired all day, falls asleep while he is walk- 
ing, when he ought to eat he won’t eat, 
and if he is sent to the field he perishes 
with cold.” 

“ Ah, no I my two are not like that,” 
said Ilabermann. 

“ And the young gentleman watches at 
night by the old master ? ” said Brasig. 
“ It is sad for the young man ! The Herr 
Kammerrath is then very feeble? Give 
him my respects, Karl, I must say adieu, 
I have an appointment to meet my gra- 
cious Herr Count.” Whereupon Brasig 
departed. 

The Kammerrath had indeed grown 
very feeble, of late ; he had suffered an- 
other slight shock, but had fortunately re- 
tained his speech, and this evening Franz 
came to ask Habermann to go over and 
see his uncle, who wished to speak with 
him. 

When the Inspector entered the room, 
Fidelia was there, chattering to the old 
gentleman of this and that ; the poor child 
knew not how long she might be able to 
talk with her good father. The Kammer- 
rath bade her leave him alone with Haber- 
mann, and when she was gone he looked 
at the inspector with deep sadness, and 
said, feebly, “ Habermann, dear Haber- 
mann, when that which has always given 
us pleasure pleases us no longer, the end 
is near. Habermann looked at him, and 
could not conceal from himself the sad 
truth, for he had seen many death-beds ; 
his eyes fell, and he asked, “ Has the doc- 
tor been here to-day ? ” 

“Ah, dear Habermann, what good can 
the doctor do me ? I would rather see 
Pastor. Behrens once more. But I must 
speak to you first of other affairs. Sit 
down here, near me.” 

He went on hastily, yet with frequent 


interruptions, as though time and breath 
were both growing short for him. “ My 
will is at Schwerin. I have thought of 
everything, but — my illness came so sud- 
denly — my wife’s death — I fear my af- 
fairs do not stand quite so well as they 
should.” After a short pause, he resumed, 
“My son will have the estate, my two 
married daughters are provided for, but 
the unmarried ones — poor children ! they 
will have very little. Axel must take 
care of them — God bless him, he will 
have enough to do to take care of himself. 
He writes me that he wishes to remain 
another year in the army. Very well, 
if he lives carefully, something may be 
saved to pay debts. But the Jew, Haber- 
mann, the Jew 1 Will he wait? Have you 
said anything to him ? ” 

“ No, Herr Kammerrath ; but Moses 
will wait ; at least I hope so. And if not, 
there is a good deal of money coming 
in from the farm, much more than last 
year.” 

“Yes, yes, and real estate has risen. 
But what good is it ? Axel understands 
nothing of farming ; but I have sent him 
books, through Franz, books about agri- 
culture, — he will study them ; that will 
help him, won’t it, Habermann ? ” 

“ God bless the poor old Herr ! ” thought 
Habermann. “ He was always so practical 
and reasonable himself, he wouldn’t have 
said that when he was strong and well ; 
but let him take what comfort he can,” 
so he said yes, he hoped so. 

“And, dear friend, you will stay with 
him,” said the Kammerrath earnestly, 
“ give me your hand upon it, you will stay 
with him ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Habermann, and the tears 
stood in his eyes, “so long as I can be 
useful to you or your family, I will not 
leave Pumpelhagen.” 

“ I was sure of it,” said his master, fall- 
ing back exhausted upon the pillows, “ but 
Fidelia shall write — see him once more, 
— see you and him together.” 

His strength was gone, he drew his 
breath with difficulty. 

Habermann rose softly, and pulled the 
bell, and as Daniel Sadenwater came, he 
took him into the ante-room. “ Sadenwa- 
ter, our master is worse, I am afraid he 
cannot last long; call the young ladies, 
and the young Herr, but say nothing defi- 
nite about him.” 

A shadow fell upon the old servant’s 
face, as when the evening wind passes 
over a quiet lake. He looked through 
the half-opened door of the sick-room 
as if it came from thence, and said 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


to himself, as if in excuse, “ God bless 

liim, it is now thirty years ” turned 

away, and left the room. 

Franz and the young ladies came. The 
poor girls had no idea that their father 
was failing so rapidly; they had thought 
surely the doctor would be able to help 
him, and the Lord would spare him a 
little longer. They had taken turns in 
watching by him, of late, and it struck 
them strangely that they should all be 
there at once, with Franz, and Haber- 
mann, and Daniel Saden water. 

“ What is it, what is it ? ” began Fidelia, 
to the old inspector. 

Habermann took her hand, and pressed 
it. “ Your father has become worse, he 

is very ill, he wishes to see your brother 

Herr von Rambow, if you will write a 
couple of lines, I am going to send the 
carriage for the doctor, and the coach- 
man can take the letter to the post. In 
three days your brother can be here, 
Fr'aulein Fidelia.” 

“He will not last three hours,” said 
Daniel Sadenwater, softly, to Habermann 
as they came out of the sick-room. 

And the three daughters stood around 
their father’s bed, weeping and lamenting, 
and would fain hold fast the prop that 
had upheld them so long, and each was 
thinking anxiously for something to alle- 
viate and help, and the three hearts beat 
more and more anxiously and quickly, 
and the one heart ever more slowly and 
feebly. 

Franz sat in the ante-room, listening to 
every sound, and now and then going into 
the sick-room. He had never before seen 
the departure of human life, and he 
thought of his own father, whom he had 
always imagined like his uncle, and it 
seemed as if his own father were dying a 
second time. He thought also of his 
cousin, who was not here, and whose place 
he filled, and thought that he should love 
him the more, all his life. 


59 

I Habermann stood at the open window, 
and looked out into the night. It was 
just such a warm, damp, cloudy night as 
that in which his heart had come so near 
to breaking. Then it was his wife, now 
his friend; who would come next ? Would 

it be himself, or No, no, God forbid! 

that could not be. 

And Daniel Sadenwater sat by the stove, 
and did what he had done every evening 
for thirty years ; he had a basket of silver 
forks and spoons on his lap, and on the 
chair near him lay a polishing cloth, and a 
silk pocket-handkerchief; and he rubbed 
alternately the spoons and forks with the 
handkerchief, and as he looked at his mas- 
ter’s name on the fork which he had pol- 
ished every evening for thirty years, his 
eyes were so dim that he couldn’t see 
whether it were bright or not, and he set 
the basket down, and looked at the fork 
till his eyes ran over with tears. 

Amid all this trouble and sorrow, the 
pendulum of the old clock moved steadily 
back and forth, back and forth, as if old 
Time sat by a cradle and rocked his child 
safely and surely to sleep. 

And he slept. Two eyes closed themselves 
forever, the dark curtain between Plere 
and Beyond dropped softly down, and this 
side stood the poor maidens, lamenting 
and vainly stretching their arms after that 
which was gone, and wringing their hands 
over that which was left behind. Fidelia 
threw herself down by her father’s body, 
and sobbed and cried until she was taken 
with spasms. Franz, full of sympathy, 
lifted her in his arms, and carried her out 
of the room, and her two sisters followed, 
in new anxiety for their darling, and Ha- 
bermann was left alone with Daniel Saden- 
water. He pressed down the eyelids of 
the dead, and after a little turned away 
with a heavy heart ; but Daniel sat on the 
foot of the bed, looking with his quiet 
face into the still more quiet face of his 
master, and he held the fork still in his hand. 


60 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER IX. 

Axel arrived three days after, having 
travelled by extra post, too late to hear the 
last words of his father, but not too late 
to render the last honors to his remains. 
The postillion blew lustily on his horn, as 
he drove into the court-yard, and at the 
door of the mansion-house appeared three 
pale mourners in black raiment. The 
young master knew what had happened. 
Everything came upon him at once, — 
thoughts for which he was, or was not ac- 
countable, — God’s providence, his own 
weakness and frivolity, his sisters’ desolate 
condition and his own inability to help 
them, more than all, his father’s thoughtful- 
ness and kindness, which were never want- 
ing in good or evil times. He was quite 
beside himself. His nature was one to be 
easily excited even by less serious causes 
than the present. He wept and mourned 
and lamented, and kept asking how this 
and that had happened, and, when he heard 
from Franz that the last words of his 
father had been spoken to Habermann, he 
took the old Inspector aside and questioned 
him, and the latter made a clean breast 
of it, and told him that his father’s last 
earthly care had been about his future, and 
how he and his sisters might get along by 
a prudent management of the estate. 

Ah, yes, that should be done ! Axel 
swore it to himself, under the blue heavens, 
as he walked alone through the garden ; he 
would turn the shillings into dollars, he 
would retire from the world and from his 
comrades. He could do it easily ; but he 
would not resign from the army immedi- 
ately, and take up the study of farming, as 
Habermann advised; he was too old for 
that, and it did not suit his position as an 
officer, and there was really no necessity. 
When he came by and by to live on the 
estate, he should learn about it, naturally ; 
meantime he would live sparingly, pay up 
his debts, and study agricultural books, as 
his father desired. So a man deceives him- 
self, even in the holiest and most earnest 
hours. 

The next day was the funeral. No in- 
vitations had been sent out ; but the Kam- 
merrath had been too much beloved in the 
region not to have many followers at his 
burial. Briisig’s Herr Count came, and it 
seemed as if he thought he was receiving 
an honor instead of conferring one. Br'a- 
sig himself was there, and stood in the 
room by the coffin, and while others bowed 
their heads and dropped their eyes, he 
stretched his wide open, and raised his eye- 
brows, and as Habermann passed by, he 


grasped his coat-sleeve, and, shaking his 
head, asked impressively, “Karl, what is 
human life ? ” But he said nothing more, 
and Jochen Nussler, standing by his side, 
said softly to himself, “ Yes, what shall we 
do about it?” And the laborers stood 
around, all the Pegels and Degels, and Pa- 
sels and Dasels, and as Pastor Behrens 
came from the other room, leading the 
youngest daughter by the hand, and, stand- 
ing by the coffin, spoke a few words which 
would have gone to the heart even of a 
stranger, then many tears fell from all eyes. 
Tears of thankfulness were they, and tears 
of anxiety; the one for what they had en- 
joyed under the old master, the other for 
their unknown future under the new mas- 
ter. 

When his remarks were ended, the pro- 
cession started for the Gurlitz church-yard. 
The coffin was placed in a carriage, and 
Daniel Sadenwater sat by it, with his quiet 
old face as stiff and motionless as if he 
were set up for a monument at his mas- 
ter’s grave. Then came the carriage with 
the four children, then the Herr Count, 
then Pastor Behrens and Franz, who wished 
to take Habermann with them, but he de- 
clined, he would go with the laborers ; then 
Jochen Nussler and others, and finally 
Habermann, on foot, with Brasig and the 
laborers. 

Close by Gurlitz, Brasig touched Haber- 
mann, and whispered, “ Karl, I have it, 
now.” 

“ What have you, Zachary? ” 

“ The pension from my gracious Herr 
Count. The last time I was with you, I 
went round to see him, and he gave it to 
me, paragraph for paragraph : two hun- 
dred and fifty thalers in gold, a living, rent 
free, in the mill-house at Haunerwiem, — 
there is a little garden there too, for veg- 
etables, — and a bit of land for potatoes.” 

“Well, Zachary, I am glad you have 
such a comfortable provision for your old 
age.” 

“ Eh, yes, Karl, that does very well, and 
with my interest from the capital which I 
have laid up, I shall want for nothing. 
But what are they stopping for, ahead ? ” 

“ Ah, they are going to take the coffin 
from the carriage,” said Habermann, and 
he turned to the laborers, “ Kegel, Pasel ! 
you must come now and carry the coffin.” 
And he went forward with those who 
should do this office, and Brasig followed. 

Meanwhile, the people were getting out 
of the carriages, and, as Axel and hS sis- 
ters stepped down, they were met by the 
little Frau Pastorin and Louise in mourning 
raiment, and the Frau Pastorin pressed 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


the hands? of the two older sisters, with the 
greatest friendliness and compassion, al- 
though she had hitherto held herself rather 
aloof from them, on account of the differ- 
ence in rank. But death and sympathy 
bring all to a level, the lofty bow them- 
selves under the hand of God, knowing 
that they are as nothing before him, and 
the lowly are lifted up, because they feel 
that the pity which stirs in them is divine. 
Even David Dasel might have taken the 
gracious Frliuleins by the hand to-day, and 
they would have recognized his honest 
heart in his wet eyes. 

Louise held her friend Fidelia in her 
arms, and knew not what to say or what 
to do. “There!” she cried, with a deep 
sob, pressing into her hand a bunch of red 
and white roses, as if she gave with it the 
love and sympathy of which her heart was 
full. 

All eyes were turned upon the child of 
fourteen years, — was she still a child? 
When the barberry bush turns green after 
a warm rain, are they buds still which it 
bears, or are they leaves ? And for the hu-. 
man soul, when its time has come, every 
deep emotion is like a warm rain, that 
changes the buds to leaves. 

“ Who is that ? ” asked Axel of Franz, 
who looked steadfastly at the child. 
*“ Who is that young maiden, Franz ? ” 
asked he again, taking his cousin by the 
arm. 

“ That young maiden ? ” said Franz, “ do 
you mean that child ? That is Inspector 
Habermann’s daughter.” 

Habermann had seen his child also, and 
the thought recurred which had come to 
him in the night, when the Kammerrath 
was dying. “No,” said he again, “the 
good Lord will not suffer it.” Strange ! 
she was not ill ; and yet who could tell ? 
His poor wife had just such beautiful rosy 
cheeks. 

“ What comes now ? ” said Brasig, rous- 
ing him from these gloomy thoughts. 
“ Truly ! Just look, Karl, Zamel Pomu- 
chelskopp ! With a black suit on ! ” 

It was so indeed. Pomuchelskopp came 
forward and bowed to the young ladies, 
the most melancholy bow which it was 
possible for a man of his build to 
achieve, and then, turning to the Herr 
Lieutenant : “ He would excuse — neigh- 
borly friendship — deepest sympathy on 
this melancholy occasion — highest respect 
for the departed — hope for a future good 
understanding between Pumpelhagen and 
Gurlitz ” — in short, whatever he could 
think of at the moment, and, as the lieu- 
tenant thanked him for his friendly inter- 


61 

est, he felt as light as if he had discharged 
himself of all the sympathy that was in 
him. He looked around over the company 
and, seeing that there were no proprietors 
present besides the Count, he managed in 
the walk through the church-yard to fol- 
low closely behind him, and tread in his 
very footsteps, a proceeding to which the 
gracious Herr Count was utterly indiffer- 
ent, but which gave Pomuchelskopp the 
liveliest satisfaction. 

The body was buried. The mourners 
stopped for a few moments at the parson- 
age, and partook of a little refreshment. 
The little Frau Pastorin was quite beside 
herself, torn into two halves, one part of 
her would gladly have remained on the 
sofa by the three daughters, endeavouring 
to comfort them, the other would be flut- 
tering about the room, offering her guests 
bread-and-butter and wine, and, when 
Louise assumed the latter office, and the 
Pastor the former, the poor Pastorin sat 
down, quite unhappy, in her arm-chair, as 
if old Surgeon Metz of Rahnstadt had been 
putting together her two halves, and she 
had found the process a painful one. 

Louise filled her office well, for it was 
not long before the followers took leave, 
one after another; Jochen Niissler was 
the last, and, when he had bowed awk- 
wardly to the lieutenant, he went up to 
the Frau Pastorin, and took her hand and 
pressed it as affectionately as if she had 
just buried her father, and said very 
sadly, “ Yes, it is all as true as leather.” 

The Pastor also had discharged well the 
office of comforter, but it is easier to 
fill an empty stomach with bread-and-but- 
ter and wine, than to fill an empty heart 
with hope and joy. He began however, in 
the right way, touching lightly upon the 
thought of the love and protection which 
they had lost, and turning to what should 
come next, plans for the future, what 
would be most reasonable to do, and where 
they should live, so that when the three 
ladies went back with their brother to the 
desolate house, their future lay before 
them like a piece of cloth, which they must 
cut out with the shears, and turn this way 
or that as suited the pattern best, and 
fashion from it such raiment as they could. 

Other people were looking at the future, 
also, and calculating on what might happen 
and what must happen. Out of the Kam- 
merrath’s grave grew not only daisies, but, 
from the blight upon the fortunes of Pum- 
pelhagen, burdock and nettles and hen- 
bane shot up also, and the golden daisies 
bloomed in strange company. Whoever 
would harvest here must not be afraid of 


62 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


a little poison, or mind being pricked by 
the briars and nettles. He who has to do 
with nettles must grasp them firmly, and 
the man who stood in the Gurlitz garde n, 
looking over toward Pumpelhagen, had a 
firm grip, but he could wait till the right 
time, — the daisies must go to seed first. 

“ The stone was out of the way,” he said 
to himself, with satisfaction, “ and it was 
the corner-stone. What was left now? 
The Herr Lieutenant ? He would fatten 
him first, feed him with mortages and bills 
of exchange, and processes and procura- 
tions, until he should be fat enough, and 
then knock him on the head. Or, could 
he do better ? Malchen was a pretty girl, 
or Salchen either, — Herr von Zwippelwitz 
said the other day, when he borrowed the 
money for that chestnut colt, that Salchen 
had a pair of eyes like — now, what was 
it ? like fire-wheels, or like cannon-balls ? 
Well, Salchen would know. 

“ But no, on the whole, no ! He under- 
stood the other way best, he would not 
meddle with this. To be sure, it might do, 
in case of necessity ; but safe was safe, 
better keep the cork in the bottle. 

“ Then there was Habermann ! Infamous, 
sneaking scoundrel ! That very morning 
he wouldn’t speak to him. Did he think it 
was for Pomuchelskopp to speak first? 
To a servant ? What was he but a ser- 
vant ? No, let me first have the lieuten- 
ant well in my clutches, and then I will 
see to him. 

“ Brasig, too, shall he keep putting stones 
in my way ? The fool doesn’t know that 
I have got him out of Warnitz ; that upon 
my suggestion Slusuhr has put a flea in 
the Herr Count’s ear, about the bad man- 
agement at Warnitz. Now he must stay 
at Haunerwiem. And then the Herr 
Pastor I Oh, the Herr Pastor ! I shall go 
round to his house to-morrow, and we 
shall be so friendly — oh, I know his friend- 
liness 1 there lies the pastor’s field before 
my eyes 1 To pretend friendship under 
such circumstances 1 Well, only wait a 
little, I will be even with him yet, for I 
have it. I have money.” And with that, 
he slapped his fat hand upon his trowsers’ 
pocket, till the golden seals on his watch 
chain danced merrily ; but he quieted 
down suddenly, as he felt a hard hand 
on his shoulder, and his Hauning said, 
“ Muchel, you are wanted in doors.” 

“ Who is there, my Kiiking ? ” asked 
Pomuchelskopp gently, damped as usual 
by his wife’s presence. 

“ Slusuhr the notary, and old Moses’ 
David.” 

“ Good, good ! ” said Pomuchelskopp, 


I throwing his arm aiound her, so that the 
pair resembled a basket embracing a hop- 
pole, — “ but just look over at Pumpel- 
hagen and that beautiful field. Is it not a 
sin and a shame it should be in such hands ? 
But that those two should come to-day, 
don’t it seem like a special providence, 
Kliicking ? ” 

“ You are always dreaming, Kopp ! 
You had better come in and talk to tfie 
people. Such plans as you have in your 
head take too long to carry out to suit 
me.” 

“ Gently, gently, my Kliicking, slow and 
sure ! ” said Pomuchelskopp, as he followed 
his wife into the house. 

Slusuhr and David were standing, mean- 
while, in Pomuchelskopp’s parlor. David 
had been suffering torments, for, as ill luck 
would have it, he had made himself fine 
with his great seal ring, and his gold 
watch-chain, and, as he entered the room, 
and stood with his back to the window, 
Philipping had spied the ring on his finger, 
and Nanting the watch-chain knotted 
across his vest, and they darted on him 
like a couple of ravens, tugging at the 
ring, and pulling at the chain, and Nanting 
trod on poor David’s corns, and PhilqDping, 
who had got up on his knees in a chair, 
kept hitting him in the shins, and David’s 
corns and shin-bones were tender points,* 
especially the latter, since they bore the 
entire weight of his body, and nature had 
omitted to assist them with appropriate 
calves. 

Slusuhr stood at the other window, be- 
fore Salchen, who sat there embroidering 
a landscape painting on a sofa cushion for 
her father. It represented a long barn 
and a plum-tree thickly set with blue 
plums, and before the barn hens were 
scratching, and a wonderful bright-colored 
cock, while ducks and geese, beautiful as 
swans, were swimming in a little pond, 
and in the foreground lay a fat young 
porker. 

Old Moses was right about the notary ; 
he did look like a rat. His ears stuck out 
like a rat’s ears, he was small and lean, 
like the rats in Rahnstadt, — exception 
being made of those who were so fortunate 
as to have a share in David’s “ produce 
business,” — he had grayish-yellow com- 
plexion and eyes, and also grayish-yellow 
hair and moustaches; but Malchen and 
Salchen Pomuchelskopp said he was “ ex- 
tremely interesting.” 

Interested , Brasig said; he knew well 
enough how to talk, only it must be about 
himself and his own meannesses. But 
was it not quite natural for the notary to 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


prefer talking about his own cunning 
craftiness, rather than the stupidity of 
other people? Was the notary to blame 
if his wisdom was too great to be concealed 
under a bushel ? It had increased to such 
an extent, indeed, that he was able to 
accommodate it only by turning out his 
entire stock of honesty. We are not com- 
petent judges of such people ; rat-nature 
is rat-nature, David himself said, — if you 
spoke of rats, they were too many for 
him. 

To-day, he was telling Salchen, with 
great enjoyment, about an uncommonly 
stupid man, for whom he had promised a 
rich wife, and how on every journey to see 
the lady, he had plucked from the poor 
cock now a wing-feather, and now a tail- 
feather, until the last journey found him 
thoroughly stripped. “Extremely inter- 
esting, ” said Salchen, just as Pomuchels- 
kopp entered the room. 

“ Ah 1 Delighted to see you, Herr No- 
tary ! Good day, Herr David ! ” 

Salchen would have gone on laughing, 
but Father Pomuclielskopp motioned with 
his hand toward the door, so she gathered 
up her plums, chickens, geese and pigs, 
and saying, “ Come, Nanting and Philip- 
ping, father has business to attend to,” 
she went out with them. 

“ Herr Pomuchelskopp,” said David, “ I 
came about the hides, and I wanted to ask 
about the wool. I got a letter ” 

“ Eh, what ? wool and hides 1 ” cried 
the notary. “ You can talk about those 
afterward. We came for this particular 
business that you know about.” 

One may observe that the notary was 
a cunning business man, who could dis- 
pense with preliminaries, he took the bull 
by the horns, and that was what Pomuch- 
elskopp liked, — he knew how to pull up 
nettles. 

He went up to the notary, shook his 
hand, and motioned him to the sofa. 
“ Yes,” said he, “ it is a difficult, far-reach- 
ing piece of business.” 

“ Ilm ? Well, we can make it long or 
short, as you like. But difficult ? I have 
managed much harder cases. David has a 
bill for two thousand five hundred ; I 
myself lent him last quarter eight hundred 
and thirty. Would you like the note ? 
Here it is.” 

“ It is good paper,” said Pomuchelskopp, 
gently and composedly, and he stood up 
and took the money for it out of his pock- 
et. 

“ Will you have mine too ? ” asked 
David. 

“ I will take yours also,” said Pomuchels- 


63 

kopp, nodding his head with dignity, as if 
he were doing a great work for humanity. 
“ But, gentlemen,” he added, “ I take them 
on this condition. Make out a bill, in my 
name, that you are indebted to me for the 
amount, and keep these notes and worry 
him with them. He must be only worried, 
for if we carry it too far he will get the 
money somewhere else, and the right time 
hasn’t come yet.” 

“ Yes,” said the notary, “ we understand ; 
we can manage the business ; but David 
has something else to tell you.” 

“ Yes,” said David, “ I have a letter from 
P , when he has been with his regi- 

ment, from Marcus Seelig, who writes me 
that he can buy up about two thousand 
dollars of the lieutenant’s paper, and if 
you would like — what do you say ? ” 

“ Hin V ” said Pomuchelskopp, “ it is a 
good deal to take at one time ; but — yes, 
you may get it for me.” 

“But I have a condition, too,” said 
David. “ You must sell me the wool.” 

“ Well, why not ? ” said Slusuhr, slily 
treading on Pomuchelskopp’s toei. “Let 
him go and look at it.” 

Pomuchelskopp understood the sign, 
and complimented David out of doors that 
he might go and examine the wool, and, 
when he returned and seated himself on 
the sofa by the notary, the latter laughed 
loudly, and said, “We know each other ! ” 
“ What do you mean V ” asked Pomu- 
chelskopp, feeling as if he had stepped out 
of his coach into the mud. 

“ My friend,” said the notary, slapping 
him on the shoulder, “I have known all 
along what you wanted, and, if you will 
pull at the same rope with me, you shall 
not fail of securing it.” 

Good heavens, what a sly fox I Pomu- 
chelskopp was frightened. 

“ Herr Notary, I don’t deny ” 

“ No need of words between us. If things 
go as they should, you shall get Pumpel- 
hagen in time, and David shall have his 
compound interest, and I — ah, I could 
manage the business myself, but it is a 
little too much for me to undertake, — I 
will take a mill or a farm, and by and by 
set up as a landed proprietor myself. But 
it will cost you a good deal of money.” 

“ That it will, God knows, a great deal 
of money ; but that is no matter. It tor- 
ments me too much to look over at that 
beautiful estate ; isn’t it a sin and a shame 
it should be in such hands ? ” 

The notary looked askance at him, as if 
to say, “ Do you really mean that ? ” 
“Well, said Pomuchelskopp, “what do 
you look at me so for ? ” 


64 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


“Are you sure you are not joking?” 
said the notary, laughing. “ If you want 
the end, you must use the means. You 
don't think that you can bring such an 
estate as Pumpelhagen to bankruptcy with 
a trumpery thousand thaler note? You 
must go to work on an entirely different 
plan ; you must buy up all the mortgages 
on the estate.” 

“ I will do that,” whispered Pomuchels- 
kopp, “ but there is Moses, with his seven 
thousand thalers not to be got at.” 

“ I have nothing to do with Moses, and 
desire nothing to do with him ; but there 
is David, perhaps he can get it for us. 
But that is not all, by a great deal, that 
you must do. You must get on good 
terms with the lieutenant; as a friend, 
you can assist him in some temporary 
embarrassment, and then, in a temporary 
embarrassment of your own, sell his note, 
— to me, if you like, — so that I can worry 
him a little, and, finally, when the whole 
concern is ready to smash, then ” 

“ I will do it,” whispered Pomuchelskopp 
impressively, “ I will do it all ; but I must 
have him here first. You must go to him 
directly with the notes, so that he may be 
obliged to leave the army.” 

“ That is a small thing ; if there is noth- 
ing more ” 

“ Yes, yes, but there is something more,” 
said Pomuchelskopp, still whispering, as if 
he feared being betrayed by a listener, 

“ there is that Habermann ; and so long 
as that sly old watch-dog is there, .we can- 
not get him into our power.” 

“ Oh, how stupid you are ! ” and the 
notary laughed in his face. “ Did you 
ever hear of a young man in pecuniary 
difficulties making a clean breast of it to 
an old friend like Habermann ? I take it, 
the lieutenant is not different from the 
rest of the world. No, Habermann may 
stay at Pumpelhagen, for all that ; but yet, 
if it is possible, we must get him away. 
He is too good a steward, and, if he 
manages Pumpelhagen as well as he has 
so far, the lieutenant can afford to keep us 
waiting a good while yet.” 

“ He a good manager I He didn’t man- 
age very well for himself.” 

“ Well, let him go 1 One mustn’t under- 
value things. But he must go.” 

“ Yes, but how can we bring it about ? ” 

“I can’t do anything,” laughed the nota- 
ry, “but you — when you get the Herr 
Lieutenant with the bright dollars under 
his eyes, it will be easy to get an old, 
worn-out inspector turned off. The devil 
is in it, if you can’t.” 

“Yes, yes,” cried Pomuchelskopp, in a 


tone of annoyance ; “ but all that takes so 
long, and my wife is so impatient.” 

“ She will have to wait,” said the notary, 
very quietly, “such things are not done 
precipitately. Only think how long Pum- 
pelhagen has been in the Rambow family ; 
the change cannot take place in a hurry. 
But now, stop ! David is coming ; not a 
word of this before David I Do you un- 
derstand ? Say nothing to him but about 
his money affairs.” 

As David entered the room, he saw a 
couple of remarkably jolly faces. Pomu- 
chelskopp was laughing as if the Herr 
Notary had made an uncommonly witty 
remark, and the Herr Notary laughed, as 
if Pomuchelskopp had been telling the 
best joke in the world. But David was 
not so stupid as he appeared at the mo- 
ment ; he knew very well that he had been 
made an April fool of, and that his two 
colleagues had been discussing something 
beside jokes. “ They have their secrets,” 
said he to himself, “ I have mine.” He sat 
down by the table, with the stupidest Jew- 
lubber face, and nodding to Pomuchelskopp 
said, “ I have looked at it.” 

“ Well ? ” inquired Pomuchelskopp. 

“Well,” said David, shrugging his 
shoulders, “you say it has been washed, 
and it may have been washed, for all I 
know.” 

“ What ! Don’t you believe me ? Do 
you mean to say it isn’t white as swan’s- 
down ? ” 

“ Well, if it is swan’s-down it may be 
swan’s-down for all me.” 

“ What are you driving at ? ” 

“ Look here 1 We got a letter from 
Lowenthal in Hamburg ; the great Lowen- 
thal house in Hamburg — the stone is four- 
teen dollars and a half.” 

“ I know all that ; you are always writ- 
ing about that nonsense.” 

“ A house like the Lowenthals doesn’t 
write about nonsense.” 

“ Eh, children,” interrupted the notary, 

“ this isn’t business, this looks like a quar- 
rel. Pomuchelskopp, let us have a couple 
of bottles of wine.” 

The Herr Notary was extremely famil- 
iar with the Herr Proprietor ; but the Herr 
Proprietor rang, and, as Durting came, he 
said in a very friendly and pleasant way, 
for he was always pleasant in his own 
house, and especially to the women-kind, 
from his Hauning down to the little girls, 

“ Durting, two bottles of wine, from those 
with the blue corks.” 

When the wine stood on the table, Po- 
muchelskopp filled three glasses, and then 
emptied his own; but David merely 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


65 


sipped at his. As the notary finished his 
glass, he said, “Now, gentlemen, let me 
tell you something,” and he winked at 
David across the table, and under the 
table he trod on Pomuchelskopp’s toes. 

“You, David, can have fifteen dollars 
for the stone, and you, Pomuchelskopp ” — 
here he trod on his toes again — “ you 
don’t care for ready money at present, if 
you can get good bonds you would like it 
all the better ” — 

“ Yes,” said Pomuchelskopp, seeing the 
drift of the notary’s remarks, “ if you can 
get me the Pumpelhagen bonds from your 
father, I will give you up the surplus of 
the wool money.” 

“ Why not ? ” said David, “ but how 
about the knots ? ” 

“ The knots ! ” repeated Pomuchelskopp. 
“We can compromise ” 

“Hold on! cried the notary, “you can 
settle about the knots, when you bring the 
bond.” 

“ Why not ? ” said David again. 

When they had finished their wine, and 
were getting into their wagon, the notary 
said softly and very jokingly to Pomuchels- 
kopp, “ To-morrow David can begin to 
worry the HeAr Lieutenant, and next week 
I will tread on his toes.” 

And Pomuchelskopp pressed his hand as 
gratefully as if the notary had saved his 
Philipping from drowning, and, after they 
were gone, he sat down with his Hanning, 
and cut and clipped contentedly at the 
web of the future, and the notary sat in 
the wagon highly pleased, well satisfied 
with himself that he was wiser than the 
others, and David sat at his side, and said 
to himself, “ We shall see ! You have the 
secrets, and I have the knots.” 

But it was not all right about the knots 
yet ; for when David told the business to 
his father, and wanted the bond, the old 
man looked at him sideways, over his 
shoulder, and said, “ So ! If you have 
been with that notary, that cut-throat, and 
that Pomuchelskopp, — he is another cut- 
throat, — and bought wool, you may pay for 
it with your own bonds and not with mine. 
Do business with rats if you like, but I 
shall have nothing to do with them.” 

That was not so favorable for David and 
the knots. 

CHAPTER X. 

But it was worse for the poor Herr 
Lieutenant next morning, when David en- 
tered the room. David was never hand- 
some, — nobody could say that, not even 
nis own mother, but he had not improved 
since the lieutenant first made his acquaint- 
5 


ance. Then, when he got the money for 
him at the notary’s, there was something 
quite friendly in his appearance ; but now. 
when he wanted the money again, he 
looked so tough and sour, that the lieuten- 
ant, without thinking what he was doing, 
drew on his gloves before speaking to 
him. 

Speak with him he must, however, 
though David's face seemed to him as if 
Moses and all the prophets were looking 
out from behind it ; and when David sai<h 
“Take off your gloves, Herr Lieutenant, 
and write,” he took off his gloves, and 
wrote across the note, and David’s face be- 
came as friendly as at their first interview. 

“ Thank God ! ” said the Herr Lieuten- 
ant, “ that is done with.” 

But a few days later a wagon drove into 
the yard, and in the wagon sat the notary 
Slusuhr, and Habermann shook his head, 
and said, “ God preserve me, with him 
too ? ” 

And as the notary entered the room, 
the Herr Lieutenant said also, “ God pre- 
serve me, him too ? ” 

But he got on with him a little better 
than with David ; the notary looked like 
a man of some cultivation, he always 
dressed well, and appeared outwardly like 
a gentleman, he understood also how to 
preserve such an appearance in his lan- 
guage, — that is to say, as long as he liked. 
This was the case at present ; the lieuten- 
ant invited him to a seat on the sofa, and 
ordered coffee, and there followed what 
seemed a very friendly chat about the 
weather and the neighborhood and the 
bad conduct of people in general, for in 
the latter topic the Herr Notary was well 
posted, because he had cultivated the habit 
of looking around him, and never ac- 
quired that of looking within. “ Yes,” 
said he, telling about a merchant in Rahn- 
stadt, “ Just think, Herr von Rambow, how 
wicked men are ! There, out of pure kind- 
ness, — that is, on account of the interest 
which I must pay, for I hadn’t so much 
money lying idle, I had to borrow it my- 
self, — I lent him the money, and helped 
him out of his difficulties, and he was so 
thankful, — and now — now that I want it 
again, must have it, he is rough, he threat- 
ens to complain of me for charging illegal 
interest.” 

Of course there was not a word of truth 
in this story, the notary only told it to 
frighten the Herr Lieutenant, and it an- 
swered the purpose. In order to turn the 
conversation, he asked what sort of busi- 
ness the merchant was engaged in. 

But the notary was not to be diverted ; 


66 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


he did not answer the question, but went 
on with his story. 

“ But I have entered a complaint against 
him, and now let him look out ! His credit 
is good for nothing, — and then the dis- 
grace ! It is not exactly entered yet, to 
be sure, but I have written it myself. 
What do you say to that ? ” The poor 
lieutenant was terribly distressed, the 
prospect looked as dark as if this was but 
the few drops before a heavy storm. He 
coughed, and cleared his throat, but said 
nothing, for he could think of nothing to 
say. It made no difference to the notary, 
he went on : 

“ But, thank God ! I don’t often have 
to deal with such idiots, this fellow is an 
exception. And since we are talking of 
money business,” — here he drew out his 
pocket-book, — “ will you allow me to give 
you back your note ? ” 

He held out the note for eight hundred 
and thirty dollars, and the rat-like ears 
seemed to erect themselves, and the grey 
eyes to protrude from the grayish yellow 
face, and the dry lips to moisten, like a rat 
when he smells bacon. The poor lieuten- 
ant took the note, and attempted to put 
aside the matter with a semblance of indif- 
ference. 

Yes, he said, he would send him the 
money ; he had started so suddenly, and 
the occasion of his journey had been so 
sad, that he had not thought of the 
matter. 

Yes, replied the notary, he believed him, 
he knew how it was when his own father 
died; at such a time, a man thinks of 
nothing but his loss, — and he put on such 
a melancholy face, that the lieutenant 
took fresh courage, — but, said the notary, 
he had thought a great deal of this note 
lately, he depended on it, for he was under 
engagements, and to meet them, — he 
must have money. 

“ But this is such a trifling matter,” in- 
terrupted Axel. 

“Well, yes,” said the notary, taking 
other papers from his pocket-book ; “ but 
then these little matters too ! ” and he 
laid on the table the notes for over two 
thousand dollars, which David had bought 
up at the lieutenant’s garrison town. 

The lieutenant was startled out of his 
show of indifference. 

“ How did you come by these papers ? ” 
he exclaimed. 

“ Herr von Rambow, I believe the name 
‘ exchange ’ is applied to such bills be- 
cause they are transferable by their pos- 
sessors; you cannot be surprised that I 
should take them instead of cash payment, 


all the more since I was saved a good deal 
of writing and postage money.” 

The lieutenant became more and more 
perplexed, but the idea that all this 
was a concerted game did not yet occur 
to him. 

“ But, my dear Herr Notary, I have for 
the moment no money on hand.” 

“ No ? ” cried the notary, shrugging his 
shoulders with an expression which let one 
look straight into the black depths of his 
soul, and revealed the compact that he 
had made with the devil. “No?” he re- 
peated ; “ I don’t believe it.” And, in spite 
of all the lieutenant’s assurances the no- 
tary stood before him, hard and cold, say- 
ing insolently, to his face, that he did not 
believe him ; it was only that he would not 
pay. Finally, the good old means of pro- 
longation came upon the carpet, to which 
Axel would gladly have agreed at the 
first, if it had been proposed to him ; but 
that would not have suited the notary. 
He wanted more commission than David, 
and he meant to take his satisfaction in 
the business, for he was a man who en- 
joyed a joke, and the best of all jokes to 
him was when he could say to himself, 
“No one can match you in Aaftiness; you 
set your foot on the necks of high and 
low, and it is good sport to watch their 
struggles.” 

These were the troubles and distresses 
in which Axel von Rambow sat, up to 
the neck, and they distracted him from his 
grief about his father. From a deep sor- 
row, of God’s sending, a soul works itself 
out fresh and pure, like a man over whom 
the waves of the sea have rolled ; he may 
have had a hard struggle, but when he 
comes forth he stands on the beach clean 
and cool, and ready for new work. But 
he who has fallen into trouble through his 
own temerity, is like one who, having fall- 
en into a slough, is covered with filth, and 
is ashamed to meet the eyes of others. So 
it was with the young Herr, he was 
ashamed that he had lived so thought- 
lessly, he was ashamed of having involved 
himself with black and with white Jews , 
he was ashamed that he could not help 
himself out of the slough, and that the 
help which others had given could only 
sink him deeper. How easily he might 
have escaped all this, if he had but con- 
fided in Ilabermann ! How gladly he 
would assist him even now, since the rea- 
son was gone that had hindered him be- 
fore, the Kammerrath! But the human 
heart is a stubborn and also a perverse 
thing, and this perverse thing believes it 
will find more rest if miles lie between 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


it and its disgrace ; so Axel left his estate 
much sooner than his sisters had hoped. 

At his garrison he found everything as 
he had left it, only he himself was 
changed; at least he said so to himself, 
daily ; but if one had asked his comrades 
they would have said they observed noth- 
ing peculiar about him, and quite naturally, 
for his good resolutions, which were the 
only respect in which he had altered, had 
not yet come to light. He meant to be 
economical, he meant to follow his father’s 
advice, and study agriculture as well as he 
could from books, he meant to do well in 
all respects. His economy began the first 
morning ; for a week he drank no sugar in 
his coffee, — “ For,” said he, “ if a man de- 
spises little things, he will not prosper in 
great ones,” — and he smoked cigars at 
nineteen instead of twenty dollars the 
box. His servant got a serious lecture, 
when he brought the bread and butter for 
his breakfast, and received orders to give 
his two horses each half a measure of oats 
less than usual, “For,” he said, “times are 
hard.” 

The latter was the only enduring re- 
trenchment — probably because he was 
not fed at the same crib with his mares ; 
all the others stopped after a week or so ; 
it was of no use, he said, to begin things 
that one couldn’t carry through. It was 
much in the same way with his agricultural 
studies. The first three pages of every 
book, he knew almost by heart, he had 
read them so often ; for he always began 
at the beginning, because, when he had 
got so far, some thing would divert his 
attention from the text. Then, as he felt 
so sure of these, he would reward himself 
for his industry by looking up something 
interesting in the books, and as he read a 
chapter on the breeding of horses, he 
would say to himself he knew all that, 
and more too ; there had been great prog- 
ress in those matters. After all, what 
good would it do for him to read these 
books, if he could not take hold of the 
business practically ? he knew very well a 
farmer should be practical, — nothing if 
not practical ! So he made the acquaint- 
ance of a Herr von So-and-So, who owned 
an estate in the neighborhood ; he rode 
with him over the fields, and asked the in- 
spector what he was doing that day, and 
when they returned to the house, he knew 
as well as the Herr von So-and-So that in 
Seelsdorp on the 15th of June, they were 
carting manure, and that his gray Wallach 
was foaled in Basedow from the gray 
Momus ; or he went with Herr von So 
and So, with a gun over his shoulder, 


67 

through the barley stubble, and got the 
information by the way that the barley 
had been harvested on the 27th of August, 
shot a brace of partridges, and when he 
went to bed at night he knew as well as 
Herr von So and So how the partridges 
tasted. 

He found this sort of practical agricul- 
ture very agreeable, and as a man is apt 
to talk about the things that please him, 
Axel did not fail to exhibit his attain- 
ments, and was soon known among his 
comrades as a shining light, quite an agri- 
cultural tallow candle, four to the pound. 
Since most of them were the sons of 
noble landed proprietors, and destined to 
the same life, and looking forward with 
horror to the time when they must leave 
their jolly soldier-life, for the hard work of 
gentlemen farmers, Axel seemed to them 
an unusual example of diligence, and they 
looked upon him as upon some wonderful 
animal who out of pure love for labor had 
put his head into the yoke. Most of them 
admired him accordingly, though a few 
blockheads turned up their noses, and 
insinuated that for a lieutenant his con- 
versation savored too strongly of the 
farm-yard. 

Having set himself up as an authority 
in agricultural matters, it was necessary 
to sustain his reputation, and to make prog- 
ress with time. And that was a period 
of wonderful progress in agricultural 
science, for Professor Liebig had written 
a famous book for the farmers, which was 
brimful and running over of carbon and 
saltpetre, and sulphur, and gypsum, and 
lime, and sal-ammoniac, and hydrates 
and hydropathy, enough to drive one 
crazy. People who wished to dip their 
fingers in science procured this book, and 
sat down to it, and read and read, until 
their heads were dizzy ; and if they tried 
to recollect, they could not tell whether 
gypsum were a stimulant or a nutriment, 
— that is to say, for clover, not for human 
beings. 

Axel bought this book, and it fared with 
him as with the rest, he read and read, 
but kept growing dizzier, and his head 
turned round as if there were screws get- 
ting loose in it, and he .shut the book. 
It would probably have stopped here, with 
him, as with the bthers, he would have 
forgotten the whole concern, if he had not 
had the fortune to know a good-natured 
apothecary, who could let him take all the 
drugs, of which the book treated, into his 
own hands, and smell them with his own 
nose. This was the practical way, and 
from that moment he understood the busi- 


68 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


ness, yes, as well as Liebig himself, so that 
he had no occasion to read further in the 
book. 

The branch of agriculture which gave 
him particular pleasure was farming-imple- 
ments and machinery. He had from a 
child taken great delight in all sorts of 
inventions ; as a boy he had made little 
mills, he had pasted, and, although his 
mother had a great dislike to anything 
that smacked of handicraft, he had, during 
his school-days, taken private lessons in 
book-binding. These tastes came into ex- 
ercise now ; he was uncommonly pleased 
to see a design of a new-fashioned Ameri- 
can rake, or a Scotch harrow, and it was 
not long before he indulged in the inno- 
cent amusement of cutting little rakes and 
harrows and rollers himself. 

He did not stop here, however, but went 
on to design rape-clappers, flax-bruisers, 
and corn-shellers. He might possibly have 
rested in these achievements, — and it was 
surely worthy of honor in a lieutenant to 
lay aside his uniform and go to work with 
drawing-knife, auger and glue-pot, — if he 
had not made the acquaintance of an old 
half-crazy watchmaker, who had wasted 
his life and his small property in endeav- 
oring to discover, for an ungrateful world, 
the secret of perpetual motion. This old 
benefactor of humanity led him into his 
workshop, and showed him how one wheel 
must be made to turn upon another, and 
this upon a cylinder, and that upon a screw, j 
and the screw upon a winch, and that 1 
upon a wheel again, and so on, over and j 
over ; he showed him machines that j 
wouldn’t go, and others that would go, j 
and yet others which wouldn’t go as they 
should ; he exhibited machines which Axel 
could comprehend, and some which he 
couldn’t comprehend, and some which he 
didn’t comprehend himself ; but it was all 
very interesting to Axel, and he became in- 
spired in his turn with the desire of being 
a benefactor to mankind. His idea was to 
invent a machine, which would do all sorts 
of field labor, which should rake, harrow, 
roll, and pull up weeds. It was really 
touching to see the fresh, young lieutenant 
of cavalry and the withered, wrinkled old 
watchmaker, sitting together and planning j 
with the lever and screws to elevate man- 
kind. 

And so it might have gone on, for all 
me, and for all him, and he might possibly 
have elevated mankind, though the con- 
stant tugging of securities and discounts ( 
and such matters had a tendency to bring 
him down, for he thought nothing about 
the payment of his debts, and although 


there was a good income from Pumpelha- 
gen, according to his father’s will it was 
to be applied first to the payment of his 
own debts, and the sisters must be sup- 
ported out of it ; and, as for the rest, he 
lived without anxiety when his first needs 
were supplied. 

But there are a pair — brother and sis- 
ter — who shake the most indifferent per- 
son out of his dreams, and drive him, with- 
out ceremony, out from the warm chim- 
ney-corner, into the storm and rain, — 
these are hate and love. Hate thrusts one 
head-foremost out of the door, saying, 
“ There, scoundrel, away with you ! ” 
Love takes one gently by the hand, leads 
one to the door, and says, “ Come with me, 
I will show you a better place.” But it 
comes to the same thing ; one must leave 
his nice, warm chimney-corner. Axel made 
the acquaintance of both ; and it happened 
quite accidentally, it was none of his do- 
ing. 

1 don’t know whether it is so still ; but 
at that time it was the custom, among the 
Prussians, for the regimental commanders 
to send regular deportment lists of the 
officers to Berlin, and King Frederic Wil- 
liam was in the habit of looking into the 
papers himself, in order to see what his 
officers were fit for. 

Now Axel’s good old colonel liked the 
Herr Lieutenant very much, because he 
had once owned an estate himself, along- 
side Biitow and Lauenbnrg. which he had 
got rid of through his singular methods of 
farming ; and because he still owned one, 
on which he could carry out these methods, 
one of them being never to enrich the soil, 
because he thought it not good for the 
land. He had a great opinion of his own 
methods, and as he was like the old car- 
riers who, when they can no longer drive, 
still like to crack the whip, he enjoyed 
talking about them, and as Axel listened 
attentively, and was too polite to contra- 
dict him, the old colonel conceived a high 
opinion of his wisdom. For this reason 
Axel’s testimonials were always very 
good; but unfortunately the old Colonel 
paid little attention to orthography, and 
so he wrote once, “ Lieutenant von Ram- 
bow is a thoroughly ‘feiger’ officer,” when 
he meant to say “ fiihiger ” (capable). 
The king himself saw it, and wrote on the 
margin, “ I have no occasion for a ‘ feiger ’ 
(cowardly) officer ; let him be dismissed at 
once.” It was a stupid thing in the old 
colonel; the mistake must be corrected; 
but he did not know how to do it without 
taking his adjutant into counsel. With 
his assistance, the orthography and the 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


GO 


business were made right ; but the rogue 
could not hold his tongue, and before long 
the whole set were aiming their poor jokes 
at our innocent Axel. Especially one 
thick-headed fellow, of “ very old family,” 
who had all along poked fun at him on ac- 
count of his agricultural pursuits, not be- 
cause he managed them foolishly, but be- 
cause he took to them at all, — now applied 
the screw so insolently that all his comrades 
observed it ; Axel alone took no notice, be- 
cause he had not the slightest suspicion of 
the cause. 

There was another matter, in addition. 
The Herr von So and So, with whom Axel 
took practical lessons in farming on horse- 
back and with a shot-gun, had a wonder- 
fully pretty daughter, — nobody need 
laugh ! she was really a fine girl, — by 
whom the Herr Lieutenant of the “old 
family ” was strongly attracted. She, how- 
ever, treated him quite coolly, and was 
much more gracious to Axel, who also 
turned his best side out in her presence. 
Whether it was that the young lady took 
no pleasure in the stupidly forward behav- 
ior of the Herr Lieutenant of “ old family,” 
and if she were going to marry preferred 
a man gifted with more brains, or that she 
was pleased with Axel’s good-temper and 
modesty, it was not long before Axel was 
evidently “ cock of the walk,” and the Herr 
Lieutenant of “ old family,” sat upon the 
nettles of jealousy. 

It happened, about this time, that the 
officers of the corps gave a ball, and the 
Herr Lieutenant of “ old family ” adorned 
himself for this festivity with a pair of 
false calves. Looking at his legs, his own 
comrades scarcely knew him, and as there 
is always a mischief-maker among so 
many frolicsome young people, who in this 
case happened to be the adjutant, he con- 
verted the cotton-wool calves of Axel’s 
rival into a pincushion, and stuck them 
full of butterflies, with which the uncon- 
scious lieutenant hopped about quite mer- 
rily. People could not help looking and 
laughing, and the Herr Lieutenant, dis- 
covering how his calves were ornamented, 
became fearfully angry, as he had reason to 
be, and his wrath broke loose upon the 
first laughing face he chanced to meet, 
which happened to be Axel’s. “If you 
were not already designated upon the 
colonel’s conduct list, 1 should have the 
satisfaction of applying the epithet my- 
self ! ” exclaimed he, in his rage. Axel 
did not hear the words distinctly, the inso- 
lent tone, however, was not to be misunder- 
stood ; and as he was really no poltroon, 
and very easily excited, he turned with 


equal anger to his rival, saying that “ ho 
did not understand what he said, but the 
tone he had used made an explanation 
necessary ; ” and with that he went to his 
captain, with whom he stood on good 
terms, and asked an account of the matter, 
and what he heard from him did not tend 
to diminish his anger. He fell into a ter- 
rible passion, and challenged the lieuten- 
ant of “ old family,” and also the adjutant, 
because he had brought the matter about, 
and the lieutenant challenged the adju- 
tant, an account of the butterflies, and so 
the three rode out one fine Sunday after- 
noon, with a crowd of seconds and wit- 
nesses and impartial observers and doctors 
and surgeons, and they cut each other’s 
faces, and shot at each other’s limbs, and 
then there was peace again. Axel got a 
scar on his nose, because he was stupid 
enough to parry a thrust with his face 
instead of his sword. If this did not ex- 
actly beautify him, it certainly did him no 
harm. Herr von So and So’s pretty 
daughter heard of the matter, she put to- 
gether many little pleasantries which she 
had noted between the rivals, and who can 
blame this intelligent girl if she believed 
herself the innocent cause of such heroic 
deeds, and liked Axel afterward better 
than before ? 

Here I might relate the entire love-story 
of Axel and Frida, and I leave it to any 
unprejudiced person if I should not have a 
pair of characters for a love-story, such as 
cannot be found even in the Bible, a lieu- 
tenant of cuirassiers, and a young lady of 
the nobility ; but no, I will have nothing 
to do with it. For, in the first place, I 
never do more than I am obliged, and who 
can compel me to give private instructions 
to the burghers’ daughters, who may pos- 
sibly read this, about falling in love with 
a lieutenant of cuirassiers, or to teach 
young mechanics how they may ingratiate 
themselves with noble young ladies ? Who 
would give me anything for that ? And, 
secondly, I may as well say, once for all, I 
do not write with any regard to young 
people, I write merely for the old folks, 
who lie down of an afternoon on the sofa, 
and take a book to drive the flies from their 
faces, and the cares out of their heads. 
Thirdly, I have already three young 
maidens to dispose of, and any one who 
wants to know what a task that is may in- 
uire of any mother of three unmarried' 
aughters. Louise Habermann must have 
a husband, and would it not be a shame to 
leave the two little twin-apples to trundle 
through the world as old maids ? Fourth- 
ly and lastly, I am not fitted to describe 


70 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


correctly the love of a lieutenant of cuiras- 
siers, it is a touch beyond me, it requires 
the pen of a Shakespeare or a Miihlbach, 
and who knows whether Shakespeare him- 
self were adequate to the task, for so far 
as I am informed he never ventured upon 
it. 

In short, they were betrothed, and the 
wedding was held at Whitsuntide, 1843, 
and the Herr von So and So gave his 
blessing as a dowry, because it was all he 
had to give. Well, we will treat him like 
a Christian, and give him something, to 
wit a name, — for since he is become our 
father-in-law he must have a name, — so 
he shall be called Herr von Satrup of Seels- 
dorp, of which estate he owned still less 
than Axel of Pumpelhagen. 

Frida von Satrup was an intelligent girl, 
and understood before her marriage that 
a “ Herr Lieutenant ” was only a large 
piece of a small apple, and that a “ Frau 
Lieutenant ” would be a small piece of a 


large apple ; she stipulated, therefore, that 
Axel should leave the army. Axel was 
not unwilling, for the foolery about the 
“feiger” officer was not by any means 
over, although he bore the mark of the 
old colonel’s blunder in red ink on his 
face, and he had also a great desire and 
purpose to turn his agricultural science 
into ready money, at Pumpelhagen, and 
therewith to pay his debts. 

He took his discharge, therefore, packed 
his uniform, sash and epaulettes in a box, 
delivered, with tears in his eyes, a touch- 
ing farewell address to his brave sword, 
laid that also in the box, nailed and sealed 
the box, and wrote on the top, “ In case of 
sudden death, to be opened by my heirs,” 
sent the whole to Pumpelhagen, was mar- 
ried in a black dress-suit, and started with 
his young bride for a journey up the Rhine. 

How he made his entrance into Pumpel- 
hagen, in the midsummer of 1843, shall be 
told in another place. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER XI. 

The three years which, since his father’s 
death, Axel had spent in garrison, occupied 
with agriculture, heroic deeds and love- 
affairs, had been passed by the dwellers in 
Pumpelhagen and the vicinity in much the 
same occupations. The agriculture was a 
matter of course ; but the heroic deeds and 
the love affairs would have been wanting, 
if Fritz Triddelsitz, in his hours of leisure, 
had not turned his attention that way. 
His relations with Marie Moller had slipped 
gradually out of the motherly into the 
brother-and-sisterly, and from thence, on 
her part at least, into the tenderly affection- 
ate, and although they were still based on 
a foundation of ham and sausage, Marie 
Moller indulged in all sorts of uncertain 
heavenly hopes touching priest and sexton, 
bridal wreath, and farming and house keep- 
ing for herself, if in process of time the 
business should take a serious turn, while 
Fritz lived in fear of being discovered by 
Habermann at some of these private re- 
asts, and suspected that, if his aunt and 
is hither and mother knew of his foolish 
behavior, the business might take a disa- 
greeable turn for himself. In short, his 
love-affairs were not altogether satisfactory, 
and though he thought no harm of throw- 
ing his hook here and there, for example, 
to the little twin-apples, and, when his aunt 
was off duty, to Louise Habermann, yet 
he was forced to confess, when he dealt 
honestly with himself, that his only success 
was with Marie Moller. 

The heroic deeds of Pumpelhagen were 
also confined to his department. He had 
at first attempted them merely against the 
farm-boys, and that in a quiet way, for if 
Habermann had known of it, the renown 
which he achieved upon their shoulders 
would have been sadly interfered with; 
now, however, as all went well, he grew 
bolder, and in an evil hour ventured to 
strike a stable-boy, and the rascal was so 
insolent as to forget all the respect due to 
his station, and gave him such a thrashing, 
in broad day-light, and Palm Sunday at 
that, that Marie Moller must spend the 
whole Sunday afternoon cooling his shoul- 
der-blades. And the most disagreeable of 
all was that with every cold bandage that 
Marie Moller laid on his shoulders she sent 
a sting to his conscience, while she re- 
minded him of all her kind deeds, and in- 
quired about his plans and prospects, trust- 
fully assuring him that she believed in his 
affection and would faithfully share his fu- 
ture. It was very annoying, because, for 
his part, he believed more in his appetite 


71 

for ham and sausage than in his affection, 
and he preferred keeping his prospects to 
himself. He stammered out something 
which she did not or would not fully com- 
prehend, and the cooler his blisters became 
the cooler became their relations ; he tried 
to change the subject, she was not disposed 
to do so ; she still applied the wet cloths, 
but with a less and less gentle hand. 

“ Triddelsitz,” said she finally, “ what am 
I to think of you ? ” 

With that, she came round from her po- 
sition behind him, and placed herself be- 
fore his face, with arms akimbo. 

“ Mariken,” said he, alarmed and con- 
fused, “ what do you mean ? ” 

“What do I mean? shall I speak out 
more clearly ? ” exclaimed she, and the 
sweet, tender expression was quite gone 
from her eyes. “Am I a person to be 
made a fool of? ” 

Then she went back again, and slapped 
a cold bandage on his shoulders, with em- 
phasis. 

“ Oh ! Thunder ! ” cried Fritz, “ that 
hurts ! ” 

“ So ? It hurts, does it ? Do you think 
it doesn't hurt me, to find that a man for 
whom I have done so much means to be- 
tray me ? ” 

“Mariken, I ask you, what do you 
mean ? ” 

“What do I mean? I mean” — with 
another emphatic bandage — “ will you 
tell me what to think of you ? ” 

“Thunder and lightning 1 That burns 
like fire ! ” 

“ I hope it does ! I should think your 
conscience would burn you, deceiving a 
poor girl with all sorts of promises and 
prospects and then backing out in this 
way I ” 

“ Good heavens, Marie, I am only nine- 
teen years old.” 

“ Well, what then ? ” 

“ I must serve somewhere else for a time, 
and then ” 

“ Well, and then ? ” with another wet 
cloth on his shoulders. 

“ Good heavens ! You might be a little 
more careful, Marie.” 

“ You might be a little more careful ! 
Well, what then?” 

“ Then, I must get me a farm ; and all 
that will take ten years or more.” 

“ Well, and then ? ” pursued Marie Mol- 
ler, with truly infamous persistency. 

“And then,” stammered Fritz finally, 
in his distress, “ by that time, you will be 
too old for me.” 

Marie Moller stood at first as if thun- 
der-struck; poisonous glances shot from 


72 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


her eyes ; then she bent round and threw 
the cloth that was in her hand right in his 
face, so that the water spattered over his 
ears. 

“ Too old ? Impertinence ! Too old, 
do you say ? ” and grasping the wash- 
bowl full of water she threw it over his 
head, and ran out of the room. And as 
Fritz stood there, gasping and snuffling, 
she opened the door again, and putting 
Iher head in, said, — 

“Don’t let me see you in my pantry 
again ! ” 

Love had now received its death-blow ; 
there was an end also of the pantry indul- 
gences ; and as Fritz stood there dripping, 
it seemed to him, among his confused 
thoughts, that the whole story did not ex- 
actly harmonize with his ideas of love, 
still less with the romances he had read, 
and he uttered in his vexation the self- 
same words he had spoken at the begin- 
ning of his apprenticeship, when he was 
working on the road in the November 
rain : “ It is quite different from what I 
thought ! A good, thing, though, that the 
old man is not at home,” added he, “ or he 
might have heard the uproar.” 

Habermann had gone with Franz this 
morning to the Gurlitz church. He al- 
ways took this walk, with still, pious 
thoughts, but to-day his heart was brim- 
ful of thankfulness to God, whose fatherly 
hand had led his child so far on her life 
journey, for, on this Palm Sunday morn- 
ing, Louise was to be confirmed. He 
walked, silent and absorbed in thought, 
along the foot-path, his eye resting on the 
pleasant landscape, where the snow still 
lay in white streaks along side the ditches 
and under the shade of the dark fir-trees, 
and where the green, springing rye in 
the bright sunshine told of Easter, and 
preached the Resurrection. The chimney- 
smoke lay over the little villages, and the 
sun seemed to press it down, as though 
this token of human care and labor ought 
not to darken the bright world, as if there 
would not be room enough else for the 
joyous sound of the church bells, which 
echoed, far and wide, over field and 
forest. 

“ Ah, if she had only lived to see this 
day ! ” said the old man aloud, and as if 
he thought himself alone. 

“ Who? ” asked Franz, a little shyly, as 
if he feared to be too inquisitive. 

“ My poor wife, the mother of my dear 
child,” said the old man, softly, and looked 
at the young man with such friendly, hon- 
est eyes, that seemed to say, “ Look into 
our depths and read this simple, true 


heart ! We will answer all thy questions, 
and it shall echo long in thy memory.” 
“ Yes,” said he, “ my good wife ! But 
what do I say? She sees more, to-day, 
than I can of her child, and she does more 
than I can for her child ; for her thoughts 
are higher than the blue heavens, and her 
joys brighter than the golden sun.” 

Franz walked silent by his side, he was 
careful not to disturb the Inspector ; this 
old man, whom he loved, to-day seemed 
to him so worthy of reverence, — his 
white hair lay across his broad forehead, 
as pure as the white snow on the earth, 
his fresh countenance and bright eyes 
spoke as trustfully of the resurrection as 
did the springing rye, and the whole face 
shone with such a sunlight of love, that 
the young man, after a while, could no 
longer restrain himself, he grasped his 
friend’s hand : 

“ Habermann, my dear Habermann, you 
have certainly lived through much sor- 
row.” 

“ Not more than other people,” was the 
reply, “and yet enough to think of, all 
one’s life.” 

“ Will you tell me about it? I do not 
ask from curiosity.” 

“ Why not ? ” and he told his story ; but 
he did not mention Pomuchelskopp’s name, 
and he closed his narration with this re- 
mark about his child : “ Yes, she was then 
my only comfort, and she is now my only 

joy!” 

They came to the parsonage. The little 
Frau Pastorin had become a little older, 
and a little fuller, with time, and could not 
fly round quite so quickly as before ; and 
to-day she was unusually quiet, running in 
nobody’s way, and the duster lay unno- 
ticed in its corner, as lonely as a dog 
under the table, for to-day the approach- 
ing solemn ceremony forbade her usual 
bustling about, for, as the Pastor’s wife, 
she was the nearest. 

But it was impossible for her to keep 
quite still, if she did not buzz about, she 
must at least run a little, now to fasten 
her Pastor’s bands and bring him a glass 
of wine, now to Louise, to set her ruffle 
straight, and whisper a loving word in her 
ear; and when young Jochen and Frau 
Niissler and the little twins and Brasig all 
arrived together, she would certainly have 
forgotten herself, if the sexton had not 
exercised his judgment, and commenced 
ringing for the last time. The twins were 
also to be confirmed to-day, and as the 
company were going to the church, and 
the Frau Pastorin looked at the three love- 
ly children walking together across the 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


church-yard, Louise in the middle, half a 1 
head taller than her little cousins, she j 
said to Habermann, while tears stood in 
her friendly eyes, “ Habermann, our child | 
has no gold chain and brooch to wear, as 
is the foolish custom now-a-days ; and that 
black silk dress, dear Habermann, is all of 
thirty years old. I wore it last the first 
time I went to church here after I was 
married, and a happy heart beat under it, 
for in that heart dwelt my Pastor ; it was 
too small for me afterwards, for, you see, 
I was already growing rather stout, but it 
is as good as new, and nobody would know 
that it was pieced down. And, Haber- 
mann, I put the money that you gave me 
for a dress into Louise’s money-box. You 
won’t take it ill of me ? I was so glad to 
see my old dress in use again.” 

Just before the church door Brasig 
pulled Habermann by the coat, and as he 
turned round he said, quite moved with 
emotion, “Karl, it is remarkable, it is 
really remarkable, such a confirmation ! 
See, when I look at those three little girls 
walking along it reminds me of my own, 
and how I had got through the infamous 
sheep-keeping for my sainted father, and 
was going to begin farming. We went 
along just like the three little girls, Karl 
Brandt and Christian Guhl and I, to the 
church, only we didn’t have black silk 
dresses on ; no, Christian had a green, 
Karl a brown, and I a gray coat ; and in- 
stead of the bouquets of flowers, that the 
little girls carry in their hands, we had 
little sprigs of green stuck in our button- 
holes ; and instead of walking three 
abreast we went one behind the other, 
like geese in the barley. Yes, it was just 
so.” 

After a hymn had been sung by the 
congregation, Pastor Behrens preached his 
sermon. He had grown older in his ap- 
earance, but his voice was strong, and 
is thoughts clear as ever, and a mild and 
gentle spirit breathed in every word. It 
is certain there is no profession in which 
age is less of a drawback than in the minis- 
try, when the man who holds this office 
has discharged it faithfully. The people 
do not listen to his words merely, they 
look at his long, upright, honorable life, 
and he stands before them a living exam- 
ple of the truth which he utters. So it 
was with this Pastor. 

Then came the examination. The 
young maidens laid aside their outside 
wrappings, Louise embraced, with tearful 
eyes, her father and her foster-mother, 
Frau Niissler affectionately kissed her 
little twins, young Jochen tried to say 1 


73 

1 something, but did not succeed, and the 

| three children stepped out from the Pas- 
tor’s seat, up to the altar. “ I wonder if 
the rogues know their lessons,” said 
Brasig to Franz, who was next him ; “ I 
believe my godchild — that is Mining 
— will stumble.” And with that, he blew 
his nose, and wiped, not his eyes, but his 
eyebrows. 

Franz did not answer; everything 
around him had disappeared for the time, 
he saw only one face, a familiar face, and 
yet he saw it as for the first time ; he saw 
but one form, a form which he had seen 
springing joyously about, but now a won- 
derful, solemn thrill trembled through it ; 
he saw a pair of hands which had been 
joyfully extended to him, now reached up 
to the Most High ; and it seemed to him as 
if the Lord looked down, and upheld this 
trembling form, in the simple black dress, 
in which a happy heart had once throbbed, 
and showed him this pure virgin heart, 
and said, “ Watch thine own, that it may 
be worthy to unite with this.” He was 
like a man who had long ago seen a beau- 
tiful region, in bright sunshine, and who 
had rambled about therein, thinking of 
nothing but his own enjoyment, and com- 
ing again after a long time ssfw the same 
region under the silent moon, and could 
scarcely recognize it, because over hill and 
forest, over thatched roof and church- 
tower, lay the thick veil of the evening 
mist, upon which rested the silver moon- 
light, so that he saw only this, and not the 
pleasant region that he knew. It seemed 
to him as if his soul was stretching out 
imploring hands, from a deep abyss, and a 
profound self-pity came over him, because 
his own heart was so poor a gift to bestow. 
And this deep self-pity, this secret longing 
for a better heart, that falls upon us, like 
a moonbeam woven out of mist and light, 
we children of men call “ Love.” 

Brasig stood near him, and whispered 
now and then a couple of words, which 
Franz did not hear and which, if he had 
heard, he would probably have con- 
sidered very stupid, and might have 
been annoyed by them ; and yet the 
old Inspector’s remarks had their origin 
in the same feeling which had come over 
himself, only that it was not so heavenly 
blue and rosy red as in his case, but old 
age had given it a tinge of gray. 

Brasig was in the greatest distress lest 
his godchild, Mining, should fail ; and 
with every question that she answered 
properly, such a great sigh was heard that 
Pastor Behrens, if he had been of the new- 
1 fashioned style of preachers, must have 


74 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


thought he had brought a great sinner to 
repentance in sackcloth and ashes. “ God 
be praised ! ” said this sinner, half aloud, 
“ Mining knows it ; ” and after a while he 
touched Franz : “ Now it is coming, just 
listen, now it is coming ; ” and he punched 
Habermann on the other side : “ Karl, 
you will see Mining has got it. Mining 
has the great water-question. I knew it, 
Christian Guhl couldn’t say it, and it came 
to me ; but I have forgotten it all now, 
except just the beginning: ‘Water indeed 
avails nothing of itself, but the Spirit of 
God ’ ” — and as Mining repeated the an- 
swer, without faltering, the old man whis- 
pered after her the whole “ water-ques- 
tion,” and when the sexton came round 
with the poor-box, he put in a silver 
thaler, as if it were a relief to his feelings ; 
and he turned round, and pressed Frau 
Niissler’s hand, and said almost aloud, 
“ Frau Niissler, did you hear our little 
rogue ? ” and blew his nose with so much 
emphasis, that Frau Pastorin secretly pro- 
nounced him an irreverent sinner, for dis- 
turbing the holy ordinance. 

If one should follow up the cord which 
bound Brasig to little Mining, and go a 
little way beyond Mining, he would find 
the end madtefast, in Frau Niissler’s heart, 
where it was tied in a great double knot, 
which could never be parted. It seemed 
to be sure, quite another thing, and much 
rougher than the delicate, silken, rosy 
noose, which Franz would fain have knot- 
ted about Louise Habermann’s little heart 
and which seemed to him too rough and 
hard for that tender heart. Love is every- 
where, the world over, but she takes 
strange forms ; she flies like an angel up- 
on rosy pinions, and she shuffles about on 
wooden shoes; she speaks with tongues, 
like the apostles on the day of Pentecost, 
and she sits in the corner like a sulky 
child, whom the schoolmaster has struck 
on the mouth with the primer ; she gives 
diamonds and coronets, and old Inspector 
Schecker sought to win the hand of my 
Aunt Scheming, with a fat turkey. 

When the confirmation was over, and 
the Lord’s Supper had been administered 
to the young communicants, Pastor Beh- 
ans went into his vestry. Samuel Po- 
rn uchelskopp, in his blue dress-coat, fol- 
lowed after him, for his Gustaving had also 
been confirmed, and opening the door of 
the vestry stood before it, instead of going 
in, — “ so that all the people may see what 
a blockhead he is,” said Brasig to Haber- 
mann, — and invited the Pastor to “a 
spoonful of soup, and a morsel of roast 
meat, and a bottle of red wine,” in as loud 


a tone, as if they were at a fair, — “that 
everybody may know what a confounded 
hypocrite he is,” said Brasig, — but the 
Pastor thanked him, and said he was too 
much fatigued to-day, and besides he had 
company at home. 

Pomuchelskopp went back, and threw 
over his left shoulder a glance into the 
parsonage-pew, making most elaborate 
attempts at distinguished behavior, but 
they were quite discomfited as he met 
Brasig’s venomous face, for Brasig was 
such a bad Christian — as the Frau Pasto- 
rin would have said had she seen it — that 
even in the Lord’s own house he could not 
keep his wicked feelings from showing in 
his face. But how quickly was his old 
face changed when the three little girls 
came back, with happy tearful faces, to 
give him also their hands, and offer their 
lips to be kissed, as they had done to their 
parents and foster-parents ! How he 
lifted his eyebrows, and wrinkled his fore- 
head, giving himself a really paternal ex- 
pression ! This was his manner to Louise 
and Lining, but when his little pet Min- 
ing came, he looked as comical as if he 
were a child himself, he put his arms 
round her and whispered in her ear, “ You 
shall see, Mining, you shall see, I will give 
you something ! ” And since he did not 
know what, at the moment, and chanced to 
have his handkerchief in his hand, he said, 
“I will give you a dozen handkerchiefs, 
bright ones ! ” for he wanted to do the 
business thoroughly. 

Each of the company had now offered 
his kind wishes, and each had taken his 
thanks in kisses from the fresh, red lips, 
two only excepted, — young Jochen never 
got more than half a kiss, and Franz got 
none at all. Young Jochen could, of 
course, blame no one but himself, for he 
need not have squeezed himself into the 
farthest corner of the pew, so that the 
long left side of his mouth was quite out 
of their reach, and the little girls must 
content themselves with the short right 
side, which was not quite half of it. And 
Franz ? He never thought of the matter, 
he had not yet returned to earth, but was 
still in heaven, and it did not occur to him, 
till they were leaving the church, and he 
found himself near Louise at the door, to 
take her hand and say something, which 
he could not recollect a moment after. 
He was certainly in love ! That beauti- 
ful face in deep devotion was imprinted 
upon his heart and imprinted for ever- 
more ! 

I may be interrupted here, possibly, by 
some pious lady, or some experienced maid- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


en, — I do not mean old people here, but 
also middle-aged, — who will inquire, 
“ Could not this young man find some oth- 
er place to concern himself with such 
worldly matters as falling in love ? ” And 
I reply, “ Honored madame, and especially 
honored mademoiselle, this young man was 
as yet so stupid in a business with which 
you are quite , familiar from early experi- 
ence, that he had never thought of love as 
belonging to worldly matters. And pray, 
where should a young man fall in love ? 
Only in an arbor, in the summer twilight, 
or in a cotillion at a ball in winter ? Many 
roads lead to Rome, but many more to 
marriage, and he who starts on his bridal 
journey does better to begin it in a church 
than in a ball-room ; for he finds the mar- 
riage altar close by, and the path is straight 
and clean ; but between the ball-room and 
the altar stretches the long, dusty, dirty 
street, and many enter with soiled boots 
and shoes upon the holy path of marriage. 
Is it not true, honored madame ? Do you 
not agree with me, respected mademoi- 
selle?” 

A simple dinner was waiting at the par- 
sonage. Brasig was very lively, and smiled 
like sunshine after rain; the old Pastor 
was also very cheerful, for he knew with 
Solomon that everything has its time, 
there is “ a time to gather stones, and a 
time to cast them away ; ” but they were 
all quiet, the church bells still chimed in 
their hearts, and only with the hot coffee 
did Frau Pastorin and Frau Nussler find 
their tongues unlocked. 

Immediately after dinner, the old Herr 
Pastor took a little nap on the sofa in his 
study, to rest from the fatigue of the 
morning. Habermann had gone out into 
the fresh air, with his daughter and his 
two nieces, that the sweet influences of the 
secretly awakening spring might compose 
these young agitated souls, and Franz had 
gone with them, also to enjoy the secretly 
awakening spring, but the one which was 
budding and blooming in his own breast. 
Jochen Niissler had found a corner, which 
was almost as convenient as his own par- 
ticular corner, by the stove, at home. 
Brasig went up and down the room, with 
his short legs and his long pipe, his feet 
turned out in an extraordinary manner, for 
since he had received his pension his gait 
had acquired a peculiar swing, and he used 
his little feet broad side out, so that people 
might see that no man was his master, and 
he stood in his own shoes, and that his 
long years of farming had not prevented 
him from appearing what he was, an elder- 
ly gentleman, living on his own income. 


75 

Frau Pastorin and Frau Nussler sat under 
the picture gallery, upon the sofa. 

“ Yes, dear Frau Nussler,” said the Frau 
Pastorin, “ thank God 1 we have got on so 
far with our children. Louise is seventeen 
years old, and your twins are six months 
older. My Pastor says, and I know it too, 
they have learned much ; and with a little 
more help here and there, they could earn 
their bread as governesses, any day.” 

Brasig stopped, lifted his eyebrows, and 
blew a cloud of smoke toward the sofa, 
and young Jochen also turned Llmself 
about, in that direction. 

“Yes, indeed,” exclaimed Frau Nussler, 
“ and the little girls owe it all to you and 
the Herr Pastor ! ” and she grasped the 
Frau Pastorin’s hand, “my brother Karl 
said, and I' say too, we could do well 
enough for them in some respects, we 
could get them their daily bread and see 
that they were neatly dressed, and teach 
them to tell the truth, and how to take 
care of themselves, and keep house ; but 
for all which makes a human being of real 
worth, we were not capable. Isn’t it so, 
Jochen ? ” 

From behind the stove came a low, 
comfortable, assenting growl, such as a 
faithful old watch-dog gives, when he has 
his head scratched. 

“You hear, Frau Pastorin, Jochen says 
so too.” 

“ Oh, I have done nothing,” said the lit- 
tle Frau Pastorin, turning off the compli- 
ment, “that is to say, for your two; of 
course it was different with Louise, for I 
was the nearest to her. But — what I 
was going to say, — we have never spoken 
about it, — had you thought of having 
your children, or one of them, perhaps 
Mining, become a governess ? ” 

“ What ? ” said Frau Nussler, looking at 
the Frau Pastorin, as if she had told her 
Mining had a prospect of becoming a 
Papist; and as the Frau Pastorin was 
about to explain her project, she was 
interrupted by a singular burst of laugh- 
ter : “ Ha, ha, ha ! A good joke ! Did 
you hear that, young Jochen? Our lit- 
tle Mining to teach children ! Ha, ha, 
ha!” 

That was Brasig ; but he made a great 
mistake. The Frau Pastorin sat there, 
like a puppet on a wire, her red face grew 
pale with anger, and under her little chin 
the little cap-ribbons fluttered quite indig- 
nantly : 

“What are you laughing at, Brasig? 
You are laughing at me, perhaps? You 
laugh because I thought Mining might be 
a governess ? Oh, Herr Inspector,” and 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


76 

she drew herself up, stiffly, “ I have been 
a governess myself, and it is quite a dif- 
ferent thing to teach children, from what 
it is to cudgel farm-boys.” 

“ To be sure ! You mustn’t mind me, 
Frau Pastorin, but our little Mining a 
school-mistress ! Ha, ha, ha ! ” 

But the Frau Pastorin was carried away 
by her feelings, and went on to say : 
“ And it makes a great difference whether 
one has learned something, or whether 
one knows nothing at all ; a man like you 
could never be a governess 1 ” 

As she uttered these words, her Pastor 
entered the room, having been awaked by 
Brasig’s laughter, and it struck him as so 
ludicrous that they were talking about 
Brasig’s « qualifications as a governess — 
and, being short-sighted, he did not notice 
his wife’s anger — that he joined in the 
laugh : “ Ha, ha ! Brasig a governess ! ” 
The entrance of her Pastor made a sin- 
gular impression upon the Frau Pastorin, 
at first the waves of passion rose higher 
than ever, but then it seemed as if oil 
were poured on the troubled waters ; she 
had indeed often allowed herself a mo- 
mentary ebullition of anger in his pres- 
ence ; but to break out into flaming 
wrath ! that was quite contrary to her 
principles, and a droll conflict began in 
her spirit and gleamed through her round 
honest face, like the light through a 
basket lantern ; the flame of anger blazed 
up once more, and then sank down into 
the deep red glow of shame, that she, a 
Pastor’s wife, and on such a day as this, 
had so far forgotten herself, and the glow 
died out in the gray ashes of a wholesome 
anger with herself, and as her own last 
words, that Brasig could never be a gov- 
erness, recurred to her, and she saw her 
Pastor laughing, the ashes were blown 
away by a little gust of merriment, but 
she held her handkerchief before her face, 
that the others might not see it. 

Fran Nussler had meanwhile been sit- 
ting on thorns, and, as the Pastor came 
in, she sprang up and said, quite distressed, 
“ Herr Pastor, I am' the innocent cause of 
all this trouble. Brasig, stop your stupid 
laughing ! Frau Pastorin thinks our 
Mining should be a governess. Dear 
heart, yes ! If you and the Frau Pastorin 
think it best, it shall be so ; you have 
always advised us for the best. Isn’t it 
so, Jochen, it shall be so ? ” 

Jochen slowly emerged from behind the 
stove. “ Yes, it is as true as leather ; if 
she must, she must,” and with that, he 
went out of the room, probably to get the 
business through his head, in solitude. 


“ But what is all this?” asked the 
Pastor. “ Regina, are you really in 
earnest ? ” And Frau Nussler went up to 
the little Frau Pastorin. “ It shall be just 
as you say, Frau Pastorin. Brasig, for 
shame I Frau Pastorin, don’t cry any 
longer ! ” and she drew away the handker- 
chief, and started back in surprise as she 
met the laughing face. “ What does it 
mean ? ” she exclaimed. 

“ Only a misunderstanding, dear neigh- 
bor,” said the old gentleman. “ Nobody 
has thought of Mining being a governess. 
No ! our children shall not swell the num- 
ber of poor, unhappy maidens thrust out 
into the world, to earn their bitter bread 
in this hard calling, with weariness of 
mind and sickness of body. No, our chil- 
dren shall, with God’s blessing, first be- 
come fresh, healthy and skilful house- 
wives, and after that they may be 
governesses, if they like, — that is, to 
their own children.” 

“ Herr Pastor, dear Herr Pastor,” cried 
Frau Nussler, as if a stone had been lifted 
from her heart, “ God bless you for these 
words ! Our Mining shall not be a 
governess. Jochen — where are you, Jo- 
chen? Ah, he has gone out in his grief 1 
Yes, Herr Pastor, and they shall learn 
housekeeping ! You shall see, I will do 
my best for them.” 

“Yes,” interrupted Brasig, “and they 
must learn to cook a good dinner.” 

“ Of course, Brasig. Ah, Herr Pastor, I 
have had so much trouble with govern- 
esses, myself ; and only last week, I went 
to see the new Frau Amtmann, — she was 
a governess, — you see she totters and 
staggers, and sighs and gasps around the 
house, and looks as pale as a corpse — - 
what you call interesting” 

“Interesting people always look as if 
they needed tying up to a stake,” said 
Brasig. 

“ But you see, Frau Pastorin, she cooks 
her eggs too hard, and burns her roast 
meat. I have nothing to say against 
learning, a great deal of learning if one 
likes — it is very nice to read the papers, 
and to know something about old Fritz 
and such people, and to know where the 
oranges and the spices grow ; but even if 
one doesn’t know such things, one can 
wait till one meets learned people, and 
then ask them ; but about cooking, Frau 
Pastorin, you can’t wait for that, for you 
must have your dinner, and who can you 
ask about that, — in the country ? the stu- 
pid maid-servants ? That would be a fine 
story ! ” 

“You are right, neighbor,” said the 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


Pastor, “it is very important that girls 
should be well trained in housekeeping.” 

“ So I say, Herr Pastor. To think of 
that poor little Frau Amtmann 1 She has 
the best will in the world, but knows noth- 
ing at all. She asked questions that my 
children could answer at seven years of 
age, whether the swine were milked, and 
how the little chickens cut open the shell. 
And Louise will not be a governess either, 
Herr Pastor ? ” 

“ No, not with our consent, and Ilaber- 
mann is of the same opinion ; she shall 
learn housekeeping. Regina is getting a 
little too lazy, and — isn’t it so ? ” sitting 
down by his wife on the sofa, and putting 
his arm about her, — “a little too old also, 
she will be glad of a young assistant, and 
could not bear to be parted from her 
Louise.” 

“ You mean you could not bear it, Pas- 
tor 1 Really, I feel myself quite set aside ; 
from morning to night, it is, ‘ Louise, get 
this ! ’ and ‘ Louise, bring me that ! * ” 

“Well, we will not quarrel, I should 
miss the child sorely, if she were away.” 

Meanwhile, Habermann had returned, 
with Franz and the children, and had met 
young Jochen wandering about in a state 
of unusual agitation. He ran to Mining, 
took her in his arms and kissed her, say- 
ing, “ Mining, I can do nothing to prevent 
it ; ” and when Habermann asked what 
was the matter, he said only : “ Brother-in- 
law, what must be, must.” And as they 
took their departure from the parsonage, 
and he sat in the carriage, he felt as if he 
were carrying a lamb to the slaughter, and 
although his wife explained the whole mat- 
ter fully, and told him Mining should 
never be a governess, the whole thing had 
made such a deep impression upon him, 
that he ever afterward looked upon 
Mining as an unhappy maiden, and treated 
her accordingly. She must always sit 
next him at the table, and he gave her the 
best of everything, as if every meal were 
her last. 

CHAPTER XII. 

So now, for the first time, the future of 
the little maidens was marked out, so far, 
that is, as one human being can arrange 
the course of life for another; but destiny 
is a strange fellow for a godfather, and he 
interferes often in the most quiet and rea- 
sonable plans that old, serious, white- 
haired people can think out, with some 
stupid trick that nobody could dream of. 
The worst of this plan-making is, that gen- 
erally the very wisest prove the stupidest 
in the end, because the good, old, white- 


77 

haired people think merely of their own 
white heads, and do not take into account 
the black ones which they had in their 
youth. 

It had never seriously occurred to the 
old Herr Pastor that his foster-child might 
be taken off his hands by a young man ; 
and the Frau Pastorin, who, after the 
fashion of women, had thought much and 
often upon this chapter in the woman’s 
catechism, had always comforted herself 
with the reflection that Louise was not ac- 
quainted with any young men ; since, on 
account of his nobility, she did not con- 
sider Franz as a young man, and Fritz, 
with his stupid jokes and her own 
motherly authority over him, seemed like 
a little, undeveloped boy. But her eyes 
were to be opened, she was to discover 
that a young, pretty maiden, even if she is 
hid in a parsonage, will attract young peo- 
ple as surely as a flower the butterflies. 
The gay-colored caterpillar, which had 
crept across her path so often to her an- 
noyance, had popped out of its chrysalis, a 
gorgeous, yellow, swallow-tailed butterfly, 
which fluttered around the flower in her 
garden, and settled upon it, and devoted 
himself to it, in a way which would have 
amused her extremely, if the butterfly had 
not been her sister’s son, and the flower 
Louise Habermann. 

Fritz came to Gurlitz, a few days after 
the confirmation, with a great and righteous 
hatred in his heart, against the whole race 
of womankind. 

The wash-bowl full of water, which he 
had got over his head, and the banishment 
from his pantry-paradise, had exercised a 
damp, cold, hungry influence ttpon him, and 
as he had learned from his romances that 
every young man in love, when he quarrels 
with his loved one, has a right to hate all 
other women too, he made use of his right. 
He had not been at Gurlitz for a long 
time, because he wished to punish his aunt 
a little for the everlasting fault-finding in 
which she allowed herself toward him. 
Now, as he sat in the parsonage, feeding 
his hatred, and speaking to no one but the 
Pastor, the Frau Pastorin rejoiced over his 
serious behavior, and said to Louise, out in 
the kitchen, “ Fritz is really quite sensible. 
Thank God ! he is coming to years of 
discretion.” 

Louise said nothing, but she laughed, 
for though she had not much acquaintance 
with young people, she knew Fritz for the 
scapegrace that he was. In undertaking 
to represent a new character, he was like 
the donkey who attempted to play the 
guitar, and, however painful his efforts had 


78 SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


been to assume a strange role, — as for ex- 
ample, to-day, that of a woman-hater, — it 
was not long before he stripped off the 
• whole disguise, and appeared in his proper 
person, as Fritz Triddelsilz, much to the 
chagrin of his dear aunt. He had been 
but a little while in the society of Louise, 
before he threw overboard the whole cargo 
of hatred of the sex, and painful recollec- 
tions of Marie Moller, the washbowl and 
pantry, and took in, beside the ballast of 
romantic ideas, “ a fresh, budding love for 
Louise,” — as he described to himself his 
new lading, — and when he had stowed it 
away under the hatches of his heart, and 
taken in his cable and made everything 
clear, he set sail. At first he tacked and 
cruised about, and his aunt, standing on 
the shore, could not tell whither he was 
steering, but that did not last long, his 
course became more direct, and as he was 
now fairly out on the high sea of “ his feel- 
ings,” and hoisted his topsail, she saw to 
her dismay in what direction he was steer- 
ing, and that her beloved sister’s son was 
no better than a reckless sea-rover, pirate 
and corsair, who was pursuing, in a scan- 
dalous manner, the pretty little brig, in 
which all her motherly hopes were em- 
barked. 

She spoke the strange craft, and asked 
“ whence ? ” and “ whither ? ” — but the pi- 
rate paid no attention ; she hung out sig- 
nals of distress to her Pastor, but the mat- 
ter seemed only to amuse him, probably 
because he foresaw no danger for the little 
brig ; he sat there, and laughed to himself, 
though he shook his head a little, now and 
then. 

The little Frau Pastorin was disgusted 
beyond measure, with the behavior of 
her nephew ; “ Stupid fellow, scape-grace, 
rascal ! ” she kept saying to herself, — and 
when the pirate began to bombard the lit- 
tle craft with honey-comb speeches, and 
bonbon verses, she put to sea herself, and 
grappled the pirate, and when she had him 
fast, she sailed away with him, out of the 
room. “ Come with me, my son, cornel 
I have something to tell you, Fritz ! And 
take your hat, too 1 ” And when she had 
got him into the pantry, she manoeuvred 
him into a corner, from which, on account 
of the pots and pans, egress was difficult, 
and she seized a loaf of bread and cut off 
a thick slice, with the words, “ You are 
hungry, Fritz, you have an empty stomach, 
my little son, and an empty stomach leads 
to all sorts of mischief, see I have spread 
butter on it, and here is cheese for you 
too, now eat 1 ” 

Fritz stood there, hardly knowing what 


had happened ; he had designed to win a 
heart, and he had got a piece of bread and 
butter; he attempted to say something, 
but his aunt gave him no time : “ I know, 
my boy, what you would say ; never mind, 
my child 1 But here, — if you will do me 
the favor, — here is a bottle of beer, — 
Habermann is back of our garden, sowing 
peas in the Pastor’s field, take it to him, 
come along 1 and greet him from me. I 
know he will be glad to get some of the 
Stauenhagen burgomeister’s beer.” And 
with that she had him through the kitchen, 
and out of the back-door, and before she 
shut the door, she called to him, through 
the crack, “You will be too busy, Fritz, to 
visit us much at present, for seed-time is 
coming, — no, never mind, my boy, it is no 
matter, — but when you do come again, 
perhaps in the autumn, Louise will be sev- 
enteen then, and you mustn’t talk such 
nonsense to her as you did to-day, she will 
be too sensible for such folly. So, my son, 
now eat your bread and butter.” And she 
shut the door, and Fritz stood there, in one 
hand a great slice of bread and butter, in 
the other a bottle of beer 1 

Fie ! It was really infamous treatment 
on the part of his aunt ! He was very an- 
gry, and at first had a great mind to throw 
the bread and butter through the kitchen- 
window, and send the beer-bottle after it, 
and he swore never to set foot in the par- 
sonage again; but reflection is a man’s 
best teacher, and he started at length, 
along the garden path, looking alternately 
at his bread and butter and his beer-bottle, 
and grumbling to himself : “ The devil 
knows I am not hungry, and the old man 
is not on this side of the field. She only 
wanted to get rid of me. Just wait, 
though ; you shall not succeed quite yet ! 
I know when and where Louise goes out 
walking. She must be mine ! Whatever 
opposes, she must be mine ! ” 

Then he sat down on the garden fence, 
and planned out his new campaign; but 
how angry he would have been if he had 
known that Louise was watching him, that 
very minute, from her chamber window ! 

But he didn’t know it, and as the bread 
and butter might have fallen into the dirt, 
if he had laid it down on the fence, he eat it 
up leisurely, and when he had finished it he 
said, “I laugh at my aunt, and I laugh at 
Marie Moller. Louise is an angel 1 She 
shall be mine ! My relations do not ap- 
prove of our love, it is evident. Goodl 
Louise cannot be won without a struggle. 
I will — well, what shall I do ? ” 

And before he did anything else, he pre- 
ferred to drink up the beer ; so lie did 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


79 


that, and when he had finished it he went 
on, with fresh courage, across the field, and 
with every step he stamped into the soft- 
ploughed-ground the firm resolve : “ She 
shall be mine !” and when the seed had 
sprung up, the old peasants in the region 
often stopped on their way, to look, and 
to say to each other : “ The devil has been 
sowing thorns and thistles in old Inspec- 
tor ILibermann’s peas.” 

So Fritz was established in a new love, 
and it had one good effect ; he became 
very dutiful toward the old inspector, since 
he looked upon him as his future father-in- 
law. lie sat with the old man of evenings, 
and told him about his expectations from 
his father, and asked his advice whether he 
should rent or purchase a farm, or whether 
he would think it better for him to buy a 
nice little estate in Livonia or Hungary. 
The old man tried seriously to dissuade 
him from such ideas, which were a little 
too absurd, but he could not help wonder- 
ing what had wrought such a change in his 
apprentice ; formerly the youngster had 
talked of nothing but riding, dancing, and 
hunting, and now he talked entirely about 
serious matters, although in a foolish way. 
He wondered still more when Fritz, one 
evening when Franz had gone to Gurlitz, 
told him in confidence that if he remained 
in Mecklenburg, he should look out for a 
handsome residence to purchase or to rent, 
with a park attached, — “park,” said he, 
“ not garden, — for the latter he would be 
indebted to his future wife, and she should 
have a good one ; her relations should be 
the same to him as his own,” and with that 
he looked at the old inspector so touching- 
ly that the latter had much ado not to 
laugh. 

“ Don’t be a goose, Triddelsitz,” said the 
old man. “ Have you been filling your 
head with love-stories ? ” 

Maybe, said Fritz, maybe not ; at all 
events, his old father-in-law should live 
with him, and one wing of the house 
should be set apart entirely for him, and 
if he wanted out-door exercise, either rid- 
ing or driving, a pair of horses should 
always stand ready for his use. And then 
he got up, and walked about the room 
with great strides, flourishing with his 
hands, and Habermann, sitting in the sofa- 
corner, kept turning his head back and 
forth like a man with the palsy, to observe 
the singular behaviour of his apprentice. 
As he took leave that evening, Fritz 
pressed the old gentleman’s hand with the 
deepest emotion, and as Flabermann cor- 
dially returned the pressure, he felt a 
warm hand on his white hair, his head was 


bent gently back and a hot kiss was 
pressed upon his forehead, and, before he 
recovered from his astonishment, Fritz 
strode out of the room. 

Fritz was a good fellow, he wanted to 
make everybody happy; his disposition 
was good, but his discretion was small. 
Go to Gurlitz again to see his aunt, he 
positively would not. He raged inwardly, 
and the grief which he endured, in his 
separation from Louise, was a bitter-sweet 
draught in which he indulged daily. But 
this bitter was mingled with another, as if 
one should add gall to quassia — a draught 
for the devil ! and the gall was added by 
whom, of all persons in the world — 
Franz! Franz ran over to Gurlitz that 
spring whenever he had time, and when 
the three unmarried daughters came to 
Pumpelhagen, in the summer, Louise often 
came to visit them, and Franz, naturally, 
was not far away ; but he — our poor 
Fritz — stood afar off, and could look on 
only from a distance, which was a doubt- 
ful gratification for him. 

I would not say, and nobody who has 
read this book so far would say, that Fritz 
was that sort of a suspicious rascal who 
ferrets out something for his purposes from 
any kind of tokens, but he must have been 
a perfect idiot if he had not noticed that 
something was the matter with Franz. 
Even if this had not been the case, a 
young man in love must be jealous of 
somebody, it belongs to the business, and 
a young man who is in love, and has no 
rival, always reminds me of my neigh- 
bor Hamann, when he sits on horseback 
with only one spur. But it was the case ; 
Franz was truly his rival, and Fritz treated 
him as such, and so before long he was as 
much vexed with Franz as with Marie 
Moller and his aunt, he scarcely spoke to 
him, and had friendly intercourse only with 
his good, old, future father-in-law. 

The human heart can hold but a limited 
measure of woe, what is too much is too 
much ; there must be some relief, and the 
only relief, for a lover, is intercourse with 
the beloved object. Fritz must contrive 
means to this end, and he went craftily to 
work; he lay in wait everywhere for 
Louise. Every hollow tree was a sentry- 
box, from whence he watched for his dar- 
ling, every ditch on the Pumpelhagen 
estate was a trench, from which he be- 
sieged her, every hill was a look-out, where 
he stood on picket-guard, and behind every 
bush he lay in concealment. 

Of course this could not last long with- 
out his attaining his desired end, and 
frightening Louise out of her wits, for at 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


80 

times when she was thinking of nothing at 
all, or perhaps — let us confess it — think- 
ing of Franz, his long body would shoot 
out from behind a bush, or he would 
thrust up his head, like a seal, out of the 
green rye, or suddenly drop down before 
her feet, from a tree, where he had been 
lying in wait, like a lynx for a deer. At 
first, she soon recovered from her fright, 
for she took those for some of his stupid 
jokes, such as she knew of old; she 
laughed, then, and talked with him about 
ordinary matters ; but she soon became 
aware that the young man was in an ex- 
traordinary condition. He was so solemn 
in his manner, he spoke of common things 
in such an uncommon tone, he rubbed his 
head as if the deepest thoughts were 
struggling for birth, he laid his hand on 
his heart, when she spoke of the weather, 
as if he were taken with a stitch in his 
side, he shook his head sadly, when she 
invited him to Gurlitz, and said his honor 
would not allow him to accept ; when she 
spoke of her father, a stream flowed 
from his lips, as when one takes the tap 
from a barrel: that was an angel of an 
inspector, never was such an old man 
born before ; his father was good, but this 
father was the father of all fathers ; if she 
asked after Fraulein Fidelia, he said he 
did not trouble himself about the ladies, 
they were nearly all alike to him, and as 
she once, unfortunately, inquired after 
Franz, lightnings shot from his eyes, he 
cried “ Ha ! ” laughed in a fearful manner, 
grasped her hand, thrust a paper into it, 
and darted headlong into the rye, in 
which he disappeared, and when she 
opened the paper she found the following 
effusion. 

“To Her. 

“ When with tender, silvery light, 

Through the clouds fair Luna beams, 

When from vanquished shades of night, 
Sunlight o’er the heaven gleams, 

Where the whispering waters dance, 

And the ivy leaves entwine. 

Ah, bestow one loving glance 
On a heart that beats for thine! 

“ Where thou goest with joyous tread, 

Only truest love can be; 

Spring flowers twine about thy head, 

I, unseen, still follow thee; 

Love is vanished, sweetest flowers 
Bloom in vain, when thou art gone; 

Ah, a youth has also hours, 

Thou, alas! hast never known ! 

“ But revenge will I enjoy, 

I will lay my rival low! 


I, who write this poetry, 

Bream of vengeance only, now. 

“ Fritz Triddelsitz. 

“ Pumpelhagen, July 3rd, 1842.” 

When Louise read “ this poetry ” for the 
first time, she did not quite understand it, 
she read it the second time, and understood 
it still less, and when she had read it for 
the third time she did not understand it at 
all ; that is to say, she could not positively 
decide upon whom the unhappy poet in- 
tended to execute vengeance, although she 
was not so stupid as to be ignorant that 
the “ Her ” addressed was herself. 

She would gladly have taken the whole 
thing for a piece of his usual buffoonery, 
and tried to think it nothing but a joke ; 
but as she called to mind his appearance 
and language, and his unusual behavior, 
she had to acknowledge to herself that this 
was something beyond a joke ; and she re- 
solved that, as much as possible, she would 
keep out of his way. She was innocent 
enough to think it a great misfortune for 
Fritz, and to feel profound compassion for 
his suffering. Compassion is a bridge 
which leads over to love, and Louise stood 
for the first time, looking over beyond the 
bridge into that fair meadow, adorned with 
rose-arbors and jasmin-hedges, — and that 
is for a young maiden of seventeen like 
cherries to a bird, — and who knows but 
she might have gone a little way beyond 
the bridge, if she had not, in her mind’s 
eye, seen Fritz, in his yellow top-boots and 
green hunting-jacket, riding about, among 
the rose-arbors, on old Chestnut, and sit- 
ting under the jasmin-hedges, with a slice 
of bread and butter and a beer-bottle in 
his hands, and his legs dangling. She had 
to laugh, in spite of her compassion, and 
remained on the safe side of the bridge, 
preferring to contemplate Fritz from a dis- 
tance, for old Chestnut might lie down in 
the mud puddle a second time, or Fritz 
might smear her with his bread and butter. 

The most stupid young man can some- 
times lead a girl of seventeen by the nose, 
and fellows, who carry a puff-ball instead 
of a heart under their vests, can captivate 
such young hearts; only the poor fools, 
who wear harlequin jackets, are never suc- 
cessful, for nothing is so fatal to young love 
as a touch of the ridiculous. So, finally, 
she had to laugh over the poetry, a clear, 
hearty laugh, and as she finished laughing, 
she was startled, for it seemed to her as if 
a warm hand had pressed her hand, and a 
pair of friendly eyes had looked deep into 
her own, and the thought of Franz came 
into her mind, probably because he wa3 


81 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


that moment approaching, in the distance. 
She tore up the vengeance-poetry into little 
scraps, and as Franz came towards her, and 
greeted her, she blushed, and, becoming 
conscious that she was growing red, she 
was angry with herself, and grew still red- 
der, and as Franz talked with her about 
every-day matters, she became embar- 
rassed, gave confused answers, and, in her 
absence of mind, strewed the fragments 
of Fritz’s vow of vengeance upon the 
air. 

“ What can be the matter ? ” said Franz 
to himself, when he had accompanied her a 
little way, and was returning. “ She is so 
different from her usual self. Is it my 
fault ? Has something annoyed her ? 
What paper was that, which she was strew- 
ing the bits of to the wind ? ” With such 
thoughts he came to the place where she 
had dropped them, and see! There lay 
the fragments of paper, and, without pick- 
ing them up, he read on one of them,— 
“ dreams of vengeance ! ! only now Fritz 
Triddelsitz,” for Fritz had forgotten to put 
a period after “now.” This excited his 
curiosity, for he recognized Fritz’s hand- 
writing ; he looked further, but found only 
a couple of fragments, and, fitting them 
together, made out these disconnected 
words : — 

“ Entwine — a loving glance — heart 
that beats for thine — Spring flowers — 
I unseen, still follow — Love is vanished 
— Bloom in vain — Ah, a youth — But Re- 
venge ! — vengeance ! I only now Fritz 
Triddelsitz ; ” the wind had carried away 
the rest. 

There was not much to be made out of 
this ; the only thing which after long re- 
flection he believed himself positively to 
have arrived at, was that Fritz Triddelsitz 
was in love with Louise, that he was up- 
braiding her, and threatening her with 
vengeance. The thing was ridiculous, but 
Fritz was a creature as full of stupid tricks 
as a donkey of gray hairs, he was quite 
capable of doing some crazy thing, and 
giving annoyance to Louise ; so Franz re- 
solved to be on the watch, and if Fritz 
went toward Gurlitz, not to let him out of 
his sight. 

Fritz had broken the ice now, he had 
done his part; now it was the turn of 
Louise, she must speak, if anything was to 
come of the matter. He waited and 
watched, but nothing came. “It is very 
provoking,” he said to himself, “but she 
knows nothing of such affairs, and it is 
doubtless all right ; I must show her the 
way.” So he set himself to work, and 
wrote a letter in a disguised hand. 

6 


Address : — “ To One Who Knows.” 
Superscription: — “Sweet Dream of my 

Heart! ” 

“ This letter is dumb, it says merely what is 
necessary, and will be found on the third rose- 
bush in the second row; other things by word 
of mouth. This by way of preliminary : when a 
cross is marked with white chalk on the garden 
gate, the contents of my heart may be found 
under the pot of the third rose-bush in the sec- 
ond row. Waving a handkerchief , from the 
Gurlitz side betokens thy presence, and desire 
for an interview; my response will be three 
whistles on the handle of my walking-stick. 
(Our shepherd taught me that, love is an apt 
scholar.) 

“ Rendezvous : the great water-ditch at the 
right of the bridge. 

“ Thine ever! ! 

“ One Whom thou Knowest. 

“ P.S. The loved one will excuse me for 
writing this in my shirt-sleeves, it is so in- 
fernally hot.” 

This letter fell into the wrong hands; 
it was the little Frau Pastorin who found 
it, as she was watering the flowers, while 
Louise, who was learning housekeeping, 
was preserving gooseberries. She made 
no scruple of opening and reading the let- 
ter, and when she had made herself 
acquainted with its contents, she had no 
doubt that it was intended for Louise, and 
that it came from Fritz, her precious 
nephew. She said nothing to Louise of 
her discovery, that would have been play- 
ing into Fritz’s hand; but she alluded in a 
variety of ways to ridiculous correspond- 
ence, just to ascertain if Louise had found 
similar epistles before; it was to no pur- 
pose however, the child understood noth- 
ing from her hints, and she then resolved 
to say nothing of the matter to her Pas- 
tor, — why should he be worried about it ? 
and then it went terribly against the grain 
to confess that her own flesh and blood — 
for so, unfortunately, she must consider 
Fritz — should perpetrate such a piece of 
nonsense. She would gladly have spoken 
her mind to him , but he kept out of her 
way. 

She went about with such thoughts in 
her mind for a day or two, taking, by the 
way, the watering of the flowers out of 
Louise’s hands, once for all, that she might 
suspect nothing. It was wise in her to do 
so, for it was not long before she found a 
water-soaked letter, under the third rose- 
bush in the second row. This spoke more 
clearly : 

Address : — “To the Only One t known to me 

alone .”. 

Superscription : — Soul of my Life! ” 


;82 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST, 


*• Snares surround us; I know that the enemy 
lies in wait. Cowardly spy , I laugh at thee! 
Have no fear, my dearest, I can rescue thee. 
One bold deed will give freedom to our love. 
To-morrow afternoon, at two o’clock, when the 
dragon sleeps, who guards my treasure, I will 
expect thy signal with the handkerchief, I shall 
be strewing manure, behind the water-ditch, 
three whistles on the handle of my stick will 
give thee warning, and though hell itself bursts 
forth, I have sworn it. Ever 

“ Thine.” 

When the Frau Pastorin read this she 
was quite off her balance. “ That ! That ! 
Oh, the miserable scamp ! 4 Dragon 

sieeps ! ’ The rascal means me by that ! 
But wait ! I will give you a signal, and if 
hell doesn’t burst forth, something shall 
crack about your ears, let me only get hold 
of you ! ” 

The next day, before two o’clock, the 
Frau Pastorin rose from her sofa, and went 
into the garden. The house-door had 
creaked, and her Pastor heard the gate- 
latch also rattle, so he got up and looked 
out of the window, to see what his wife 
was doing in the garden, at this unusual 
hour, for her nap generally lasted until 
three o’clock. He saw her go behind a 
bush, and she stood there and waved her 
handkerchief in the air. 44 She is beckon- 
ing to Habermann, perhaps,” said he, and 
lay down again. She was, however, mere- 
ly giving a friendly signal to her nephew, 
till she might get a little nearer to his 
ears. 

But he did not come, nor did she hear 
the three whistles. Greatly disappointed, 
she went back to the house, and when it 
was time for coffee, and her Pastor asked 
her whom she had been beckoning to in 
the garden, she was so much embarrassed, 
that, I regret to confess, she fibbed, 
although she was a pastor’s wife, and said 
she had been so oppressed by the heat, 
she was merely waving her handkerchief 
to get a little fresh air. 

On the third day, she found another 
letter. 

Address : “ To my own, destined for me by 

Fate.” 

Superscription : “ Sun of my darkened 

Soul!! ” 

44 Dost thou know what hell-torments are ? I 
Buffered them yesterday afternoon, at two 
o’clock, when I was strewing manure. The air 
was free, the enemy was in the clover-field, and 
thy handkerchief fluttered like one of my white 
pigeons in the perfumed air. I was just upon the 
point of giving the pre-arranged signal of three 
whistles, when that old horned beast of a Bra- 
sig came up to me, and stood talking a whole 


hour, about the manure. When he was gone, 1 
rushed down to the water-ditch, but, vinegar! 

“ The time had seemed long to thee, and thou 
wert gone! But now, listen ! This evening, 
punctually at half past eight, when I have eaten 
my sour milk, 1 will be at the place of rendez- 
vous ; to-day is Saturday, the Pastor is writing 
his sermon, and the dragon is cleaning house; 
the opportunity is favorable, and the under- 
brush will conceal us there. (Schiller.) Wait 
but a little, thou too shalt rest, (Goethe) in the 
arms of thy devoted one, who would sell all 
that is dear to him, to buy with it something 
dear to thee. 

“Oh, meeting blest! Oh, meeting blest! 
Awaiting which I calmly rest, 

And all my longing, all my dreams. 

Bury in Lethe’s silent stream. 

I shall behold thee, dear, once more. 

When the waves wash me to the shore, 

So farewell, yet not in sorrow, 

We shall meet again to-morrow! 

44 The beginning is my own, the middle from 
Schiller, and the end from a certain Anony- 
mous, who has written a great deal; but I al- 
tered it a little to suit my purpose. 

44 With torments of longing, 

44 Thine Own.” 

44 Well !” exclaimed the little Frau Pas- 
torin, when she read this patch work, 
44 This goes beyond everything ! Yes, my 
dear sister, you have brought up a beauti- 
ful plant, and it bears fine fruit. But 
other people must trim and prune it, and I 
think, as his aunt, I am the nearest to him. 
And I’ll do it ! ” she cried, in a loud voice, 
stamping her little foot, 44 and I should like 
to see who will hinder me ! ” 

44 1 for one would not think of it, Frau 
Pastorin,” said Brasig, who had come up, 
unperceived, behind the bee-hives. 

44 Have you been listening, Brasig ? ” 
asked the Frau Pastorin, still in an excited 
tone. 

44 Listening ? ” said Brasig, 44 1 never lis- 
ten ; I only keep my ears open, and then I 
hear something, and I keep my eyes open, 
and see something. For instance, I see 
now that you are provoked about some- 
thing.” 

44 It is true ; but it is enough to drive an 
angel wild.” 

44 No, Frau Pastorin, the angels have 
enough to do with their wings ; we need 
not incommode them about our matters, 
but if you want to see something wild, I 
believe the devil has broken loose here in 
Pumpelhagen.” 

44 Good heavens, has Fritz ” 

44 No, I didn’t say so ; ” said Brasig ; 44 1 
don’t know what it is ; but there is some- 
thing going on.” 

44 What is it, then ? ” 

44 Frau Pastorin, Habermann is irritable, 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


and when that is the case, you may be 
sure there is some disagreeable business in 
the wind. You see, a few days ago, I 
came to Pumpelhagen, when he was busy 
with the hay and the rape harvest, and I 
said, ‘ Good morning/ says I. ‘ Good 
morning/ says he. ‘ Karl/ says I, and was 
going on to say something, when he inter- 
rupts : ‘ Have you seen my Triddelsitz 
anywhere ? ’ ‘ Yes/ said I. ‘ Where ? ’ 

asked he. * Sitting in the great water- 
ditch/ said I. ‘Did you see young Herr 
von Rambow anywhere ? * asked he. ‘ He 
is sitting in the next ditch close by/ said I. 
‘ What are they doing ? ’ asked he. ‘ They 
are playing/ said I. ‘ You are joking/ said 
he, ‘ playing at this busy time ? ’ ‘ Yes, 
Karl/ said I, ‘and I have been playing 
too.’ ‘ What have you played then ? ’ 
asked he. ‘ Bo-peep, Karl. See ! there is 
your greyhound peeping over the ditch 
towards Gurlitz, and your nobleman is 
peeping after the greyhound, and I was 
peeping out of the marl-pit after both of 
them, and when one turned his head, the 
other ducked, and so we sat there, peeping 
and ducking alternately, till the thing 
grew rather tedious to me, so I went 
boldly up the nobleman. “ Good day,” 
said I. “ Good day,” said he. “ Begging 
your pardon,” said I, “ what sort of farm- 
work are you doing here ? ” “ I ? ” said 
he, and stammered, “I was looking after 
our peas, whether they were filling out 
■well.” “ Hem ! ” said I. “ So ? ” said I. 
“ Well ! ” said I, “ good morning,” and 
went towards the greyhound.’ You won’t 
mind it, Frau Pastorin, I always call your 
nephew so.” 

Not at all, said the Frau Pastorin, she 
called him worse names, herself. 

“ ‘ Good day ! ’ said I, ‘ what sort of 
work are you doing?’ ‘Oh, nothing just 
now/ said he, going off, like a whipped 
hound, ‘ I have been looking after the 
peas.’ ‘ Karl I ’ said I to Habermann, ‘ if 
your peas fill up according as they are 
looked after, you will have a plentiful har- 
vest.’ * The cuckoo knows/ said he, terri- 
bly provoked, ‘ both of them are as stupid 
as possible ; I can’t make out the young 
Herr at all, this summer; he goes about 
like a man in a dream, forgets everything 
I tell him, and is no longer always up to 
the mark, as he used to be ; and the other 
stupid fellow is worse than ever.’ You 
don’t mind Habermann calling your Herr 
Nephew a stupid fellow, Frau Pastorin ? ” 

“God forbid! ’’said the Frau Pastorin, 
“ Habermann has reason.” 

« You see, this was, say, a week ago, — 
now I started out yesterday morning early 


83 

with my fishing rod, to see if the perch 
would bite ; what do I see ? Your Herr 
Nephew, the greyhound, goes slyly down 
here into the garden, and after a while 
comes out again, and behind him creeps 
along the nobleman among the bushes, 
and along side the ditch, as if he were 
tracking a fox, and when he has gone past 
my place of observation, there comes my 
good Karl Habermann over the hill, fol- 
lowing the other, and when he had passed, 
I went on behind him, and so we went 
in a great curve, with wide spaces be- 
tween us, clear down around the village, 
each one seeing only the man in front of 
him, which I found extremely amusing. 
They will do it again to-morrow probably, 
and if you would like to see the fun, Frau 
Pastorin, or the Herr Pastor, you can 
come in behind me, for Habermann says 
he shall make thorough work of the busi- 
ness, and he has been after them three 
times already.” 

“ Thank you very much for the propo- 
sal,” said the Frau Pastorin ; “ I have had 
amusement enough already, from this af- 
fair. Can you keep a secret, Brasig ? ” 

“ Like a sieve, with a hole in it.” 

“ No ; jesting aside, can you be si- 
lent ? ” 

“ Utterly,” said Brasig, striking his hand 
over his mouth. 

“ Well, then listen,” said the Frau Pas- 
torin, and told him what she knew. 

“Why, he really is a stupid fellow, 
then, your Herr Nephew!” said Brasig, 
and Frau Pastorin read him the letter. 

“ But, Frau Pastorin, how did this stu- 
pid fellow get such a command of lan- 
guage ? He is stupid, to be sure, but his 
writing is not so stupid, he writes like a 
poet.” And when Frau Pastorin read 
about the dragon, Brasig laughed merrily : 
“ He means you, Frau Pastorin.” 

“ I know that,” said she shortly, “ but 
the horned beast here, in the third letter, 
means you ; and we have nothing to hold 
us back. The thing to be done is simply 
this ; let me get hold of the fellow, and 
I will wash his head for him.” 

“You are right, and nothing is easier. 
You see, we two, you and I, will hide here 
in the garden, about eight o’clock ; at half 
past eight, take Louise, and seat her in 
the water-ditch, and you shall see, he will 
come, like a bear after honey, and when 
he has began to lick it, we two will break 
loose and catch him.” 

“ Ah, you are not very cunning, Brasig. 
If I am to tie the business to the big bell, 
I don’t need your assistance, It would be 
a great pity for Louise to have anything 


84 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


to do ’with it; Habermann too, and even 
my Pastor himself need know nothing of 
the matter.” 

“ Hm, hm ! ” said Brasig,” then — then 
— hold ! I have it ; Fran Pastorin you 
must make yourself as thin as possible, 
and put on Louise’s dress, and go to the 
rendezvous, and when he comes, and sits 
down by you, and begins to caress you, 
you must catch him, so, by the throat, and 
hold on until I come ; ” and with that he 
laid hold of the Frau Pastorin’s nearest 
hand, to illustrate his remarks. 

“ You are imprudent, Brasig.” 

“ Yes, you say so, Frau Pastorin ; but if he 
doesn’t see his dearest sitting in the ditch, 
he won’t come down, and if we don’t take 
him unawares, we may whistle for him, for 
he is a confoundedly long-legged, thin- 
ribbed hound, and we can never chase 
after him with our short legs and our cor- 
pulence.” 

That was true, to be sure ; but no ! 
should she go to a rendezvous ? Brasig 
was going quite too far, and, besides, how 
could she get Louise’s clothes ? But Bra- 
sig was not dismayed, he represented to 
her that it was merely an interview with 
her own nephew, and that, if she sat on 
the edge of the ditch, she need only wear 
Louise’s shawl, and her Italian straw hat : 
“But you must keep sitting, for, if you 
should stand up, he will see in a minute 
that you are a foot shorter than Louise, 
and that you are a foot larger round the 
waist. 

Finally, — finally, the Frau Pastorin let 
herself be persuaded, and as she went out 
about eight o’clock that evening, through 
the back door, dressed in Louise’s hat and 
shawl, the Herr Pastor, who stood at the 
window, in deep thought over his sermon, 
said to himself, “ Good heavens ! where 
is Regina going, with Louise’s hat and 
shawl ? And there comes Brasig, out of 
the arbor. Well, he will come in, if he 
wants to see me ; but it is very sin- 
gular ! ” 

The Frau Pastorin went along the gar- 
den walk with Brasig prepared for any 
emergency, opened the garden gate, and 
went through it alone, while Brasig re- 
mained in the garden, and ensconced him- 
self behind the fence. 

“Brasig,” said she, as the thought oc- 
curred to her, “you will be too far off 
here ; come down with me to the ditch, 
for when I have caught him, I must have 
you close by.” 

“ All right ! ” said Brasig, and followed 
her down to the ditch. 

Such a ditch, as this water-ditch was, 


is not often seen now-a-days; for ouf 
modern system of drains has made them 
unnecessary ; but every old farmer remem- 
bers them, how they were dug through a 
field, sixteen or twenty feet from bank to 
bank, but narrow at the bottom, bordered 
right and left with thorn-bushes, nearly al- 
ways dry, only in spring and fall there was 
perhaps a foot and a half of water ; and 
occasionally in summer also, after a heavy 
rain. This was the case at present. 

“Brasig,” said the little Frau Pasto- 
rin, “ lie down behind that bush, close by 
me, so that you can come quickly to my 
help.” 

“ Why not ? all right,” said Brasig. “ But, 
Frau Pastorin, you must think up some 
catch-word, upon which I shall break 
loose.” 

“Yes, surely. Yes, that is necessary; 
but what ? Wait a moment I when I cry, 

* The Philistines be upon thee,’ then you 
must spring out.” 

“ Good, Frau Pastorin.” 

“ Good heavens !” said she to herself, “ I 
seem to myself like a Delilah indeed. 
Seated at a rendezvous, at half past eight 
in the evening ! At my time of life 1 
How scandalized I should have been when 
I was a young girl, at the thought of such 
a thing, and to be doing it now in my old 
age ! Brasig ! Don’t sneeze so dreadfully 1 
One might hear you a quarter of a mile 
off. And all this for that boy, for that 
miserable boy ! God bless me, if my Pas- 
tor knew 1 Brasig, what are you laughing 
at ? I forbid you to laugh ! ” 

“ I am not laughing, Frau Pastorin.” 

“ Yes, you were laughing : I distinctly 
heard you laugh.” 

“I was merely yawning a little from 
weariness, Frau Pastorin.” 

“ And can you yawn, over such a matter 
as this? I am ready to fly, hand and foot. 
Ah, you miserable scamp ! What have 
you made of me ! And I can tell nobody, 
I must fight it out alone. Brasig is a real 
godsend.” 

By and by Brasig spoke -—in a whisper 
to be sure, but one could hear it as dis- 
tinctly as the cry of the quail in the dis- 
tance : — “Frau Pastorin, make yourself 
as long asLewerenz’s child, and as thin as 
possible, and put on a lovely, shamefaced 
mien, for he is coming over the hill, I can 
see him against the evening sky.” 

And the little Frau Pastorin’s heart 
throbbed, and her wrath rose high against 
the youth, and she glowed with shame at 
her own situation, and now she would cer- 
tainly have run away, if Brasig had not 
laughed again ; but that provoked her, and 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


bIic meant to show him that she was in 
earnest. 

This time, Brasig really did laugh, for, 
behind the first dark figure that came over 
the hill he saw a second, and behind the 
second a third, and he chuckled to himself, 
behind his thorn-bush : “ So ! There is 
Karl Habermann,. too ; and now the whole 
inspectorship of Pumpelhagen is on foot, 
probably out to see how the peas look in 
the evening. This looks like a comedy I ” 

The Frau Pastorin did not see the 
others, she saw merely her precious 
nephew, who came straight towards her. 
Now he ran across the bridge, now he ran 
along the bank of the ditch, now he sprang 
forward a couple of feet, and clasped his 
dear aunt abont the waist : “ Beloved 
angel!” “Wait, you rascal!” cried she 
in reply, and with the grip which Br'asig 
had taught her she seized him, not ex- 
actly by the throat, but by the coat-collar, 
and cried with a clear voice, “ The Philis- 
tines be upon thee ! ” and Brasig, the Phil- 
istine, scrambled up. Oh, thunder ! his foot 
was asleep ! but no matter ! He hopped 
on one leg along the ditch, and almost 
sprang upon Fritz ; but the overtasked leg 
failed under the weight of the hundred 
and eighty pounds it dragged after it ; 
Brasig fell backwards into a thorn-bush, 
lost his balance, and tumbled, a lump of 
misfortune, into the foot and a half of 
ditch-water. 

There he sat, for a moment, stiff and 
stark, as if he were at the water-cure, tak- 
ing a sitz-bath. Fritz, also, stood stiff 
and stark, and felt as if he were taking a 
bath, but a shower-bath : he stood fairly 
under the stream of his aunt’s indignant 
reproaches, which rushed and roared about 
his ears, ever ending with the words : 
“ The dragon has you now, my son ! The 
dragon has you now ! ” 

“ And here comes the horned beast ! ” 
growled Brasig, who had scrambled out 
of the ditch, and was close upon them. 
But Fritz had come to himself by this 
time ; he broke loose from his aunt, and 
would have escaped, if a new enemy had 
not come upon him, from across the ditch. 
This was Franz, and it was not long be- 
fore Habermann also was there, and the 
little Frau Pastorin had scarcely recovered 
from this shock, when her Pastor stood be- 
fore Her, asking, “ For heaven’s sake, Re- 
gina, what does all this mean ? ” 

The little Frau Pastorin was at the last 
extremity; but Br'asig was not quite so far 
gone, although he felt as if he were changed 
into running waters, and on the point of 
dissolving. “ Infamous greyhound ! ” cried 


85 

he, giving Fritz a couple of digs under 
the ribs, “ must I go and get my cursed 
Podagra again, on your account? But 
j they shall all know what a confounded 

! Jesuit you are. Habermann, he ” 

| “For heaven’s sake!” cried the Frau 
j Pastorin, catching breath again, in the 
gathering storm, and springing between 
| them, — “ don’t any of you listen to 
Brasig ! Habermann, Herr von Rambow, I 
, beg of you ! just go quietly home, the 
I business is over, it is all over, and what 
isn’t finished, my Pastor will attend to ; 
it is a family affair, merely a family af- 
fair. Isn’t it so, Fritz, my son? It is just 


a family affair, that concerns only us two. 
1 But now come, my son ! We will tell my 
! Pastor all about it.- Good-night, Herr 
j von Rambow ! Good-night, Habermann. 

! Fritz shall come back to you soon. Come, 
j Brasig, we must get you to bed immedi- 
' ately.” 

And so she dispersed the company. The 
two who were not to be enlightened went 
off homewards, each by himself, shaking 
i their heads ; Habermann annoyed at the 
| inexplicable behavior of his two young 
I people, and that he could not penetrate its 
' secret ; Franz more than suspicious of the 
| whole concern, for he had clearly recog- 
nized Louise’s hat and shawl, in the half- 
twilight, and Louise must have some con- 
nection with the affair though he could 
make no sense of it. 

F ritz, quite abashed, followed the Pastor 
and the Frau Pastorin, while the latter, in 
shame and sorrow, related the whole story. 
The procession drew near to the parsonage, 
and the evil-doer had so far recovered his 
courage, that he showed signs of running 
away ; but Br'asig stuck so close to his 
side that he was compelled to yield out- 
wardly ; but he raged inwardly all the 
more, and when Brasig asked the Frau 
Pastorin, who it was that had come so op- 
portunely to their aid, and she mentioned 
the name of Franz, Fritz stood still, and 
shook his fist over the peas, in the direc- 
tion of Pumpelhagen, and exclaimed, “ I 
have been betrayed, and it shall be 
avenged, the Junker shall pay for it.” 

“ Boy 1 ” cried the Frau Pastorin, “ will 
you hold your foolish tongue ? ” 

« Softly, Regina ! ” said the Pastor, who 
was getting a tolerable idea of the matter, 
“ go in and see that Br'asig is put to bed ; I 
will have a few words with Fritz.” 

She complied with his request, and as 
much reason as Fritz was capable of tak- 
ing in was then, in all kindness, adminis- 
tered by the old Herr Pastor ; but one can 
pour only so much clear wine into a full 


86 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


cask, as the working off of the froth and 
scum leaves room for, and while the Pas- 
tor gently poured in, Fritz was foaming 
out of the bung-hole : his own relations 
had conspired against his happiness, and 
thought more of the rich Junker than of 
their own sister’s child. 

Much the same thing was going on in- 
side the house ; only the cask, before 
which the Frau Pastorin stood, neither 
foamed nor dripped ; this was Uncle Brlisig, 
who would not be put to bed. 

“ I couldn’t do it, Frau Pastorin,” said 
he ; “ that is to say, I could, to be sure, 
but I oughtn’t, for I must go to Rexow. 
Frau Nussler has written me orders to re- 
port myself at Rexow.” 


The same spirit and leaven which 
worked in Fritz sending off froth and 
scum not of the purest, fermented slowly 
but strongly in old Brasig, although the 
old cask had stood long in the cellar, and 
had become seasoned ; and when he at 
last, out of respect for the Frau Pastorin 
and the Frau Podagra, suffered himself to 
be persuaded into bed, his thoughts turned 
the same corner which those of Fritz were 
turning, as going through the pease-field, 
back of the Pastor’s garden, he stamped 
for the second time his heroic resolutions 
into the earth : “ He would renounce her 1 
Renounce her! But the devil take the 
confounded Junker 1 ” 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

The next morning — it was Sunday 
morning — Brasig awoke, and lay stretch- 
ing himself in the soft bed — “A pleas- 
ure,” he said to himself, which I have 
never allowed myself before, but which is 
very agreeable. However, it is mainly 
from the novelty of the thing ; one would 
soon get tired of it ; ” and he was on the 
point of getting up, when Frau Pastorin’s 
maid-servant whisked in at the door, seized 
his clothes with one grasp, and ran off 
with them, leaving in their place a black 
coat and black trousers, and a black vest, 
lying on the chair. 

“Ho, hoi” laughed he, looking at the 
black suit. “It is Sunday, and this is 
the parsonage; can it be possible they 
think I am going to preach to-day ? ” He 
lifted one garment after another, and said, 
at last, “ Now I understand ! It is only 
because of the ditch yesterday; because 
my own clothes are so wet and dirty, I 
must make myself comfortable in the 
Herr Pastor’s. Well, here goes ! ” 

But it didn’t go quite so easily, and as 
for being comfortable that was out of the 
question. The clothes were long enough, 
to be sure, but as for breadth, he found 
close quarters in the Herr Pastor’s trousers, 
it was utterly impossible to button the 
lower buttons of the vest, and when he 
put on the coat, it cramped him dreadfully 
between the shoulder-blades, and his arms 
stood out from his body, as if he were 
ready on this Sunday morning, to press 
the whole world to his honest heart. 

So he went down stairs to the Frau 
Pastorin, his legs turned outward, as was 
his usual manner of walking since he had 
been pensioned; but his arms also were 
turned outward now, and the Frau Pas- 
torin had to laugh heartily ; but retreated 
behind the breakfast table, as Brasig came 
towards her, with open arms, as if she 
were to be the first subject of the world- 
embrace. 

“ Don’t come near me, Brasig ! ” cried 
she. “ If I had dreamed that you would 
cut such a ridiculous figure in my good, 
old Pastor’s clothes, you should have 
stayed in bed till noon, for it will be as 
late as that before yours are washed and 
dried.” 

“Ho, ho!” laughed Brasig, “was that 
the reason ? And I was flattering myself 
that you sent me the Pastor’s clothes that 
I might be more pleasing in your eyes at 
our rendezvous this morning.” 

“Just listen to me, Brasig!” said the 
Frau Pastorin, with a face red as fire. “ I 


87 

will have no such joking as that ! And if 
you go round in the neighborhood — you 
have nothing else to do now, but carry 
stories from one to another — and tell 
about last evening, and that confounded 
rendezvous, I’ll have nothing more to say 
to you.” 

“ Frau Pastorin, what do you take me 
for?” cried Brasig, advancing upon her 
again, with outspread arms, so that she 
took refuge a second time behind the 
table. “ You need not be afraid of me, I 
am no Jesuit.” 

“No, Brasig, you are an old heathen, 
but you are no Jesuit. But you must tell 
something. Oh, dear ! Habermann must 
know, my Pastor says so himself. But 
when he asks you about it, you can leave 
me out of the story. Only think, if the 
Pomuchelskopps should get hold of it, I 
should be the most miserable woman in 
the world. Oh, heaven help us ! And I 
did it only in the kindness of my heart, 
for that innocent child, Brasig. I have 
sacrificed myself for her.” 

“ That you have, Frau Pastorin,” said 
Brasig, earnestly, “ and therefore don’t 
worry yourself about it the least in the 
world; for, you see, if Karl Habermann 
asks me what we were doing there, then I 
can say — then — then I will say you had 
appointed a rendezvous with myself.” 

“ With you ? For shame, Brasig ! ” 

“Now, Frau Pastorin, am I not as good 
as that greyhound ? And surely our years 
are more suited to each other!” And 
with that Brasig looked up as innocently, 
as if he had thought of the best excuse in 
the world. The Frau Pastorin looked 
keenly in his honest face, and folded her 
hands thoughtfully on her lap, and said, 
“ Brasig, I will trust you. But, Brasig, 
dear Brasig, manage it as quietly as you 
can. And now come, sit down, and drink 
a cup of coffee.” And she grasped one of 
his stiff arms, and turned him round to 
the table, as a miller turns about a wind- 
mill to the wind. 

“ Good ! ” said Brasig, taking the cup, 
which he held out with his stiff arm as if 
he were a sleight-of-hand performer, and 
the cup a hundred-pound weight, and he 
was holding it before an appreciative pub- 
lic in the open air ; he tried to seat him- 
self also ; but as he bent his knees 
something cracked, and he sprang up, — 
whether it was the Pastor’s chair, or the 
Pastor’s trousers, he did not know ; but 
he drank his coffee standing, and said, “ It 
was just as well ; he could not wait long, 
for he must go to Rexow, to Frau N uss- 
ier.” 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


88 

All the Frau Pastorin’s entreaties that 
he would wait till his own clothes were 
dried were of no avail; Frau Nussler’s 
least wish was for him a command, regis- 
tered in the memorandum book of his 
conscience, and so he sailed off, — the long, 
black flaps of the priestly garment flying 
behind him in the summer morning, — 
toward Pumpelhagen and Rexow, slowly 
and heavily, like the crows we used to 
catch, when I was a boy, and then let fly 
again. 

He came to Pumpelhagen, and there he 
was accosted by Habermann, who saw him 
over the garden fence. “ Good heavens, 
Zachary, how you look ! ” 

“ The result of circumstances, Karl ! 
You know I fell into the mud, last night, 
— but I haven’t time, I must go to your 
sister.” 

“ Brasig, my sister’s business can afford 
to wait better than mine, I have noticed 
for some time, there has been a great deal 
going on behind my back, which I was to 
know nothing of. That wasn’t so much ; 
but, since last night, I am sure that the 
Herr Pastor and the Frau Pastorin know 
all about the matter, and if they are keep- 
ing anything from me, I know it can be 
merely out of kindness.” 

“You are right, Karl ; it is out of kind- 
ness,” interrupted Brasig. 

“ I am sure of it, Brasig, and I am not 
disposed to be suspicious, but for some 
time it has lain heavy on my heart that 
this is a matter which concerns me very 
nearly. What did you have to do with 
the business last evening ? ” 

“I, Karl? I only had a rendezvous 
with the Frau Pastorin, in the water- 
ditch.” 

“ What did the Herr Pastor have to do 
with it V ” 

“ Karl, we did not know anything about 
it, he surprised us.” 

“ What had the Herr von Rambow to 
do with it ? ” 

“He caught your greyhound by the 
collar, because I had tumbled into the 
ditch.” 

“ What had Fritz Triddelsitz to do with the 
business ? ” asked Habermann with terrible 
emphasis. “ And what had Louise’s hat 
and shawl to do with it ? ” 

“ Only this Karl, that they didn’t fit the 
Frau Pastorin at all well, because she is 
much too large for them.” 

“Zachary,” said Habermann, reaching 
his hand over the fence, “ these are merely 
evasions. Will you not tell me, — and we 
such old friends, — or dare you not tell 
me ? ” 


“Karl — the devil take the whole ren- 
dezvous business, and the Frau Pastorin’s 
worry besides ! ” cried Brasig, and grasped 
Ilabermann’s hand across the fence, and 
shook it in the tall nettles that grew by 
the fence, until both were stung, and drew 
back. “ Karl, I will tell you. The Pastor 
will tell you himself — why shouldn’t I ? 
Your Fritz Triddelsitz, the cursed grey- 
hound, loved you, doubtless because you 
have been like a father to him, and now 
his love has gone on to Louise, for lave 
always goes on, for instance, mine for your 
sister and Mining.” 

“ Brasig, speak seriously.” 

“ Am I not speaking seriously, when I 
speak of your sister and Mining ? ” 

“I know that,” said Habermann, reach- 
ing after Brasig’s hand again, in spite of 
the nettles, “ but what had Franz to do 
with it all ? ” 

“For all I know, he may love you too, 
for your fatherly kindness, and for all I 
know, his love may have gone on to your 
daughter.” 

“ That would be a misfortune ! ” cried 
Habermann, “ a great misfortune ! To 
put that right again, is more than I can 
do ; the Lord himself must help us ! ” 

“I don’t know about that, Karl: he has 
two estates ” 

“Not a word, Zachary: come in, and 
tell me all you know.” 

And when Brasig had told all that h6 
knew, and was again under way, and 
steering toward Rexow, Habermann stood 
lookingafter him and talking to himself: 
“ He is a good fellow, his heart is in the 
right place ; and, if I found it was really 
so, I should like it right well, — but — 

but ” He did not mean Brasig this 

time, however, he meant Franz. 

On this Sunday morning young Jochen 
was sitting, about breakfast time, in his 
usual chimney-corner, and in his arm-chair. 
Lining and Mining had spread the table 
for breakfast, and had brought in the 
dishes of ' ham, and sausage, and bread, 
and butter, and when all stood ready on 
the table, Frau Niissler herself came in, 
and set down a platter of hot scrambled 
eggs, saying : “ There, Jochen, don’t let it 
get cold 1 ” and went out again, to see 
about some thing or other. 

The eggs were still crackling in the 
dish, — they were really splendid — but 
young Jochen did not stir. Whether it 
was, that he had not yet smoked out hi 3 
pipe, and wanted to finish it, or that he 
was lost in thought over two letters, 
which were lying in his lap, he did not 
stir, and his eyes remained fastened upon 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


one particular spot. And on this spot, 
under the stove, close by him, lay young 
Bauschan, looking at his master. Young 
Bauschan was the latest new-comer of the 
whole Bauschan race, which had been 
brought up and weaned in the house, since 
old Jochen’s time ; when one spoke to him 
he was called “ Bauschan,” but when one 
spoke of him, he was called the “ Thron- 
folger” (crown-prince,) not on his own 
account, but on Jochen’s account, because, 
so far as anybody could recollect, this was 
the only joke he had ever perpetrated. 

So, as I said before, these two young 
people, young Jochen and young Bau- 
schan, sat and looked at each other, each 
thinking his own thoughts ; young Jochen’s 
suggested by his letters, and young Bau- 
schan’s by the savory smell which came to 
his nose. Jochen did not move, but the 
crown-prince stroked himself with his paw 
over his thoughtful face, his nose grew 
sharper, and the nostrils quivered, he crept 
out from under the stove, put on a court- 
eous mien, and made his compliments to 
young Jochen with his tail. Young Jochen 
took no notice, and young Bauschan infer- 
ring that everything was in its usual con- 
dition, went nearer to the table, looked 
round sideways, more after Frau Niissler 
than for young Jochen, then laid his head 
against the table and indulged in blessed 
hopes, as young folks will. Hope kept 
him quiet for a time, but — one really 
needs something more substantial, for one’s 
stomach, — the crown-prince returned to 
put his two paws — merely the fore paws 

— in a chair, and bring himself a little 
nearer. His nose came directly over the 
dish containing the red bacon, and — now, 
young folks — Bauschan snapped at it, ex- 
actly as we should in our youthful days, 
when a pair of red lips smiled up to us ; 
and — just like us — he was frightened, in 
an instant, at his wickedness, and crept 
away, but — that I should have to say it ! 
with the bacon in his teeth. 

“ Bauschan ! ” cried young Jochen, as 
impressively as the mother, who keeps 
guard over the red lips ; but for all that, 
he did not move ; meanwhile Bauschan — 
whether that as crown-prince he believed 
himself possessed of a species of regal right 
over all the red lips in his realm, or that he 
was so spoiled that even such a sweet, clan- 
destine titbit made no impression upon him 

— looked Jochen boldly in the face, licked 
his chops, and hankered for more. Jochen 
looked him right in the eye, but did not 
stir, and after a little while Bauschan got 
up again on a chair, this time with his 
hind legs, and ate up a plate full of sau- 


89 

sage. “ Bauschan 1 ” cried Jochen. “Min- 
ing, Bauschan is eating up the sausage!” 
but he didn’t stir. The crown-prince 
bestirred himself, however, and when he 
had made way with the sausage, he ad- 
dressed himself to his chief dainty, the 
dish of scrambled eggs. “ Mother, moth- 
er ! ” cried young Jochen, “he is eating 
up the eggs ! ” But young Bauschan had 
burned his moist nose against the hot dish, 
he started back, upset the platter, knocked 
the Kiimmel bottle over with his tail, and 
disordered the whole table, young Jochen 
never stirring the while, only calling from 
his corner, “ Mother, mother 1 The con- 
founded dog ! he is eating up our eggs ! ” 

“ What are you roaring about, young 
Jochen, in your own house ; ” cried one, 
who just then entered the door, but it was 
such a singular figure, that Jochen was 
frightened. He let his pipe fall from his 
mouth, in his terror, put out both hands 
before him, and cried, “ All good spirits 
praise the Lord ! Herr Pastor, is it you, 
or, Brasig, is it you V ” 

Yes, it was Brasig, at least one who 
looked at him near enough, and had time 
to consider, would recognize the yellow- 
topped boots as belonging to an inspect- 
or’s uniform, but Jochen had no time to 
consider, for the figure which entered the 
door at once perceived Bauschan’s mis- 
deeds, and ran into every corner of the 
room, in search of a stout stick for the 
crown prince’s back, and behind him flut- 
tered in the air two long, long black coat- 
tails, like the wings of a dragon, and out 
of the high black coat-collar, and under 
the high black hat, which had slipped 
down half over his eyes, shone a red, angry 
face, as if a chimney-sweep had taken a 
glowing coal in his mouth, to frighten the 
children. Young Jochen was no longer a 
child, to be sure, but yet he was frightened, 
he had started up, and held on with both 
hands to the arms of his chair, and ex- 
claimed alternately, “Herr Pastor! Bra- 
sig ! Brasig ! Herr Pastor I ” and the 
crown-prince, who was still in his child- 
hood, was terribly frightened, he also ran 
into all the corners, and howled, and could 
not get out of the room, for the door was 
shut, and when the black figure beat him 
with the yellow stick — necessity works 
wonders — he sprang through the window 
sash, and took half the glass along with 
him. 

This made uproar enough to raise the 
dead, why, then, should not Frau Niissler 
hear it in the kitchen? and, just as she 
opened the door, Briisig was shoving up 
his hat with one hand, and pointing with 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


00 

the other, still holding the stick, to- the ' 
broken window, while he uttered the re- 
markable words, “ You can thank nobody 
but yourself, young Jochen ! For what 
does the dumb creature of a crown-prince 
understand ? All the beautiful Kiimmel 1 ” 

“ Good heavens ! ” cried Frau Niissler, 
coming in. “What is all this, Jochen? 
Bless me, Brasig, how you look ! ” 

“ Mother,” said young Jochen, “ the dog 
and Brasig — what can I do about it ? ” 

“ For shame, young Jochen,” cried Br'a- 
sig, going up and down the room with 
great strides, his long coat-tails almost 
dipping in the Kiimmel, “ who is master 
of this house, you, or young Bauschan ? ” 
“But, Brasig, why in the world are 
you dressed so horribly ? ” asked Frau 
Niissler. 

“ So ? ” said Brasig, looking at her with 
great eyes, “suppose you had gone to a 
rendezvous with the Frau Pastorin, last 
night, and tumbled into the ditch, so that 
your clothes were all damp and muddy, 
this morning ? And suppose you got a 
letter, that you must come here to Rexow, 
to a family council ? And what was I to 
do ? Is it my fault that the Herr Pastor 
is as tall as Lenerenz’s child, and as thin 
as a shadow, and that his head is so much 
bigger than mine? Why did the Frau 
Pastorin rig me out in his uniform this 
morning, so that all the old peasants going 
to church called out to me, from a distance, 

“ Good morning, Herr Pastor ! ” but that I 
might come here, out of pure kindness, to 
your family council?” 

“ Brasig,” said young Jochen, “ I swear 
to you ” 

“ Don’t swear, young Jochen ! You will 
swear yourself into hell. Do you call this 
a family council, with all the Kiimmel run- 
ning about the room, and I in the Pastor’s 
clothes, to be made a laughing-stock 
of?” 

“ Brasig, Brasig,” exclaimed Frau Niiss- 
ler, who scarcely knew her old friend in 
his anger, and who had been picking up 
the broken fragments and setting the 
table-cloth straight, “ don’t mind such a 
trifle ! Sit down, it is all right again, 
now.” 

Under Frau Nussler’s friendly words, 
Brasig quieted down, and allowed himself 
to be seated at the breakfast-table, only 
growling to himself, “The devil knows, 
young Jochen, I have always lived in the 
hope that you would grow a little wiser 
with years, but, I see well, what is dyed in 
the wool will never wash out. Meanwhile 
though — what is the matter here ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Frau Niissler — “ Yes,” said 


'Jochen also, and his wife was silent, for 
she thought Jochen was really going to say 
something ; he said nothing, however, but 
“ It is all as true as leather.” So Frau 
Niissler began again : “ Yes, there is 

Rector Baldrian’s Gottlieb, Jochen’s sis- 
ter’s son, a right good fellow, and well- 
educated, and has studied his Articles as a 
Candidate — you have seen him here a 
great many times.” 

“ Yes,” nodded Brasig, “ a right nice 
young fellow, a sort of Pietist, combed his 
hair behind his ears, and instructed me 
that I did wrong to go fishing Sunday 
morning.” 

“ Yes, that is the one. And he has got 
through with his schooling, and the Rector 
wants us to take him here, for a while, till 
he studies some last things into his head, 
and we wanted to ask you what we should 
do about it.” 

“ Why not ? The Pietists are quiet 
people, their only peculiarity is their love 
of instructing ; and you, Frau Niissler, are 
likely to give them opportunity for it, and 
young Jochen, too, — God be praised! — 
since he will not allow himself to be in- 
structed by Bauschan and me.” 

“Yes, that is well enough, Brasig, but 
there is something else ; there is Kurz’s 
Rudolph, he has studied for the ministry, 
too, and he also is Jochen’s nephew; he 
heard that the other wanted to come here, 
and he wrote yesterday, saying he had 
wasted his time dreadfully at Rostock, and 
he would come here to Rexow, and review 
what was necessary. Just think of it ! 
there in Rostock he has all the learned 
professors, and here at Rexow only Jochen 
and me.” 

“ Oh, I know him,” cried Brasig, “ he is 
an exceedingly fine fellow ! When he was 
first beginning to study, he caught me half 
a dozen perch out of the Black Pool ; the 
very smallest weighed a good pound and a 
half.” 

“ Eh ! How you remember everything ! 
And he was the one who got Mining, when 
she had climbed up on the ladder to the 
old stork’s nest, and stood there clapping 
her hands for joy, and we down below 
frightened out of our wits, and he brought 
her down, safe and sound. Yes, he is 
bright enough about such matters, but not 
so good at his books, and Rector Baldrian 
says, there at Rostock he is always get- 
ting into fights. Just think, they fought 
with bare swords, and he was in the midst 
of it all, and it was all on account of a rich 
merchant’s pretty daughter.” 

“ May you keep the nose on your face ! ” 
cried Brasig. “ In a real, regular fight, and 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


about a pretty merchant’s daughter ! 
Well, young Jochen, all the troubles come 
from the women ! ” 

“ Yes, Brasig, you may well say so ; but 
what shall we do about it ? ” 

“Why, where is there any difficulty? 
If you don’t want the two young ecclesi- 
astics, write and say so, and if you do 
want them to come, write and say so ; you 
have room enough, and plenty to eat and 
drink, only look out for the expenses for 
the books, for those make fearful holes in 
the pocket. And if you wish to take only 
one, take the fighter, for I, for my part, 
would much rather fight with the one, than 
be instructed by the other.” 

“ Yes, Br'asig, that is all very well,” said 
Frau Nussler, “ but we have already writ- 
ten to Gottlieb Baldrian, and now we can- 
not refuse to take Rudolph, without affront- 
ing the Kurzes.” 

“ No ? Well, then, take both.” 

“ Yes, Brasig, it is easy to say so ; but 
our two little girls — they have just been 
confirmed — there, Jochen, you tell him ! ” 

And Jochen really began to speak : “ It 
is all as true as leather, — you see, Bra- 
sig, Mining is just like — you know all 
about it — educated just like a governess, 
and my old mother used to say, a govern- 
ess and a candidate in the same house — 
that would never do.” 

“ Ho, ho 1 Young Jochen ! Now I un- 
derstand you. You are afraid of love- 
affairs. But that little rogue and love-af- 
fairs ! ” 

“Well, Br'asig,” said Frau Nussler, has- 
tily, “ it is not so improbable ! I, as a 
mother, should know that. Why, I was 

not so old as they are, when ” Frau 

Nussler stopped suddenly, for Brasig had 
pulled a terribly long face, and was look- 
ing very keenly in her eyes. Fortunately, 
Young Jochen took up the conversation, 
and said ; “ Br'asig, — mother, fill Brasig’s 
glass, — Brasig, you can understand some- 
thing about it, and now, what ought we, as 
parents, to do ? ” 

“ Let them alone, young Jochen ! Why 
has the Lord put young people into the 
world, and what else have they to do but 
make love to each other ? But that little 
rogue ! M 

“You are jesting, Br'asig,” interrupted 
Frau Nussler. “ You ought not to talk so 
about such a serious matter, for out of a 
smooth egg many times crawls a basilisk.” 

“ Let him crawl,” cried Br'asig. 

“ So V ” asked Frau Nussler. “ Do you 
say so? But I say otherwise. Jochen is 
not accustomed to trouble himself about 
such things; for all he cares, every one of 


91 

our servant-maids might fall in love, idle 
about, and get married ; and I — God bless 
me I I have both hands full of work, and 
enough to find fault with before my eyes, 
without looking after what goes on behind 
my back.” 

“ What am I for, then? ” asked Br'asig. 

“ Oh, you ! ” said Frau Nussler, off hand, 
“ you have no experience in such matters.” 

“ What I ” exclaimed Brasig. “ I, who 

once had three sweethearts ” He went 

no further, for Frau Nussler put on a long 
face, and looked at him with so much curi- 
osity, that he covered his embarrassment 
by drinking the Kiimmel in his glass. 

“ A miserable piece of business ! ” he 
cried, standing up, “ and who is to blame 
for it all ? Young Jochen ! ” 

“ Eh, Br'asig, what have I to do with it ? ” 

“ You let the crown-prince eat up the 
breakfast, under your very nose, and take 
two ministerial candidates into your house, 
and don’t know what to do about it ! But, 
never mind, Frau Nussler, take the two 
young fellows in, and don’t be afraid. I 
will look after the little rogue, and the two 
confounded rascals shall catch thunder and 
lightning. The fighter, the duel-fighter — 
I will take care of him; but you must 
keep an eye on the proselyter ; they are 
the slyest.” 

“ Well, we can’t do otherwise,” said Frau 
Nussler, also rising. 

And at Michaelmas the two clerical re- 
cruits arrived at head-quarters, and Franz 
went away to the agricultural college at 
Eldena, and as he went out of the Pastor’s 
garden, there looked after him, over the 
fence, in the same place where Fritz had 
sat, with his bread and butter and his beer- 
bottle, a dear, beautiful face, and the face 
looked like a silken, rose-red purse, out of 
which the last groschen had been given for 
a dear friend. 

When Louise came back into the parlor, 
in the twilight, that evening, the Frau Pas- 
torin took the lovely girl upon her lap, and 
kissed the sweet mouth, and pressed the 
pure heart to her own. Well, the women- 
folks can’t help doing such things 1 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The evening before St. John’s day, 
1843, David Dasel’s oldest boy was sitting 
with Johann Degel’s youngest girl, in the 
pleasure-garden at Pumpelhagen, enjoying 
the moonlight, and Fika Degel said to 
Krischan Diisel, “ Say, did you see her, 
that time, when you took the horses to the 
young Herr ? ” 

“ To be sure I saw her ; he took me into 
the parlor, and shewed her to me, and 


92 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


said, ‘ See, this is your gracious lady ! ’ and 
she filled me a glass, that I should drink 
there.” 

“ What does she look like ? ” 

“Well,” said Krischan, “it is hard to 
describe her ; let me see, she is about 
your size, and has such light hair as yours, 
and just such a pink and white face, and 
she has grey eyes also, as you have, and 
just such a little, old, sweet, pouting 
mouth,” and with that, he pressed a hearty 
kiss on the red lips. 

“ Gracious, Krischan ! ” cried Fika, free- 
ing herself from his arm, “then does she 
look just like me ? ” 

“ Child, have you no more sense than 
that ? ” said Krischan. “ No, don’t flatter 
yourself to that extent! You see, that 
sort of people have always a something 
about them, quite different from our sort. 
The gracious lady might sit here with me, 
till she were frozen to death in midsum- 
mer, it would never come into my head to 
give her a kiss.” 

“So?” said Fika Degel, standing up, 
and tossing her pretty head, “ then you 
think I am good enough for you ? ” 

“ Fika,” said Krischan, throwing his arm 
round her again, though she made a show 
of resistance, “that sort are too slender- 
waisted, and have too weak bones for us, 
if I should hug her as I do you, I should 
always be afraid of dislocating her spine, 
or knocking her down. No,” said he, 
stroking her soft hair, “ like must mate 
with like.” And as they separated, Fika 
was quite gracious again towards her 
Krischan, and looked as friendly as if she 
were his gracious lady. 

“ Well, I shall see you to-morrow,” said 
she, “ I am going to help the girls tie 
wreaths, in the morning.” 

And so she did. Yes, they were tying 
wreaths in Pumpelhagen, and a great gate 
of honor was constructed, and while Ha- 
bermann was overseeing the preparations, 
and Marie Moller was running hither and 
thither, with greens and flowers, and Fritz 
Triddelsitz, as a volunteer of the first 
class, in his green hunting-jacket, and 
white leather breeches, and yellow top- 
boots, and a blood-red neck-handkerchief, 
strutted about among the farm-boys and 
day-laborers, there arrived upon the scene 
Uncle Brasig also, neat as wax, in light- 
blue, tight summer trousers, and a brown 
dress-coat, of unknown antiquity, which 
covered his back very well, down to the 
calves, but in front he looked as if the light- 
ning had struck him, and torn off his brown 
bark, leaving exposed a long strip of yel- 
low wood, for he wore under it a fine, yel- 


low pique vest. On his head he had, of 
course, a silk hat, three-quarters of an ell 
high. 

“ Good morning, Karl ! How are you 
getting on ? Ha, ha ! There stands al- 
ready the whole concern. Fine, Karl ! 
The arch should be a little higher, though, 
and right and left you should have a couple 
of towers ; I have seen them so in old 
Friedrich Franz’s time, at Gustrow, when 
he came home in triumph. But where is 
your flag ? ” 

“ Flag ? ” said Habermann, “ we have 
none.” 

“ Karl, bethink yourself! How can you 
celebrate without a flag ? The Herr Lieu- 
tenant is a military character, of course 
he must have a flag. Moller ! ” he went 
on, without hesitation, “ go into the house, 
and bring me out two sheets, and sew 
them together lengthways ; Krischan Pa- 
sel, bring me a nice, smooth, straight bean- 
pole; and you, Triddelsitz, get me the 
brush that you mark bags with, and an 
inkstand ! ” 

“ What under heaven are you going to 
do, Zachary,” said Habermann, shaking 
his head. 

“ Karl,” said Brasig, “ it is a mercy he 
was in the Prussian army, if he had been 
in the Mecklenburg, we couldn’t have got 
the colors ; but the Prussian — black ink, 
white linen, and there are your colors ! ” 

Habermann would have entered a pro- 
test, but he thought : “ Well, let him work, 
the young Herr will understand that it is 
all meant well.” 

So Brasig worked away, and painted a 
great “ Vivat ! ! ! ” with the brush. “ Hold 
it tight ! ” he cried to Marie Moller, and 
Fritz Triddelsitz, whom he had pressed 
iuto the service as assistants, “ so that the 
“ Herr Lieutenant ’ and ‘ Frau Lieutenant ' 
may come out nice and clear on the flag ! ” 
for he had decided upon these words to 
put under the “ Vivat,” instead of “ A. von 
Rambow ” and “ F. von Satrup ” which had 
been his first thought : for these were 
merely a couple of names of the nobility, 
and having lived among noblemen all his 
life he held them for nothing remarkable ; 
but he had not had so much to do with 
lieutenants, and considered the title a very 
high one. 

When he had finished his flag, he ran up 
to fasten it on the highest point of the 
manor-house, then puffed down stairs again, 
to see the effect from outside, and placed 
himself at the door of the granary, and 
then at the sheep-barn, but nowhere did it 
seem to satisfy him. 

“ It don’t look right, Karl,” said he, much 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


annoyed; but, after a little reflection, lie 
placed himself before the green archway, 
and called out, “ Karl, what am I thinking 
of? This is the right spot, from which they 
will perceive it ! ” 

“ But, Br'asig,” remonstrated Habermann, 
“it would cover our triumphal arch en- 
tirely, and under the tall poplars there 
wouldn’t be a breath of air for the flag, and 
the two heavy old sheets would hang down 
on the bean-pole like a great icicle.” 

“ I’ll make it all right, Karl,” and Br'asig 
pulled out from his pocket a long string, 
which he proceeded to fasten to the upper, 
outer end of his flag. “ Gust Kegel,” he 
called to one of the swineherds, “ are you 
a good climber ? ” 

“ Yes, Herr Inspector,” said Gust. 

“ Well, my dear swine-marquis,” said 
Briisig, laughing at his own joke, and all 
the men and boys and girls laughed with 
him, “just take this end of the string, and 
climb into that poplar, and draw it tight. 
And Gust did the business very skilfully, 
and drew the string tight and hauled up 
the sail, as if all Pumpelhagen were mak- 
ing ready to sail off, and Brasig stood by 
the bean-pole, as if he were standing by 
the mast of his ship, an admiral command- 
ing a whole fleet : “ They may come now, 
Karl, whenever they like ; I am ready.” 

But Fritz Triddelsitz was not ready yet, 
for he had appointed himself commander 
of the land-forces, and wished to draw them 
up in military array, by the sheep-barn, on 
one side the old day-laborers, and the ser- 
vants, and farm-boys, and on the other, the 
house-wives, servant-maids and little girls. 
After much instruction, he had got his 
breeches-company about half-drilled, but 
with the petticoat-company he could do 
nothing at all. The house-wives carried, 
instead of a weapon, a baby each, upon the 
left arm, that little Jochen and Hinning 
might be able to see too, and manoeuvred 
with them in a highly irregular manner ; the 
maid-servants declined to recognize Fritz 
as their commander, and Fika Degel called 
out to him that Mamselle Moller was their 
corporal, and the light-troops of young 
girls skirmished behind poplars and stone- 
walls, as if the enemy were in sight, and 
they in danger of being taken prisoners. 
Fritz Triddelsitz struck fiercely at his 
troops with his cane, which he carried as a 
staff of command, and told them they were 
not worth their salt, and, going up to 
Habermann, vowed he would have noth- 
ing more to do with the concern ; but if 
Habermann had no objections . he would 
take his gray pony, and ride off to see how 
soon the Herr Lieutenant and his lady 
would arrive. Habermann hesitated, 


93 

mainly out of consideration for the old 
Gray ; but Brasig whispered quite audibly, 

“ Let him go, Karl, then we shall be rid of 
the greyhound, and it will be much nicer.” 

So Fritz rode off on the Gray, towards 
Gurlitz ; but a new annoyance intruded it- 
self in Brasig’s plan, that was schoolmas- 
ter Strull, who came marching up with the 
school-children, descendants of Asel and 
Egel, with open psalm-books in their hands. 
The order which Fritz had not been able " 
to accomplish with an hour’s training, 
Master Strull had held for a whole year ; 
he advanced his troops in two divisions, in 
the first stood the Asels, whose singing 
could always be relied upon, in the second, 
were the Egels, of whom he was — alas ! 
but too well aware, that each one had his 
own idea of time and melody. 

“ Preserve us, Karl, what is all this ? ” 
asked Brasig, as he saw the schoolmaster 
approaching. 

“Now, Zachary, Master Strull wishes to 
show honor to the young Herr, as well as 
the rest of us, and why shouldn’t the chil- 
dren have a chance to show what they 
have learned ? ” 

“ Too ecclesiastical, Karl ; altogether too 
ecclesiastical for a lieutenant? Haven’t 
you got a drum or a trumpet ? ” 

“No,” laughed Habermann, “we don’t 
keep that sort of agricultural implement.” 

“ Very unfortunate,” said Br'asig, “ but 
hold ! Krischan Dasel, come and hold the 
flag a moment ! It is all right, Karl,” said 
he, as he went off. But if Habermann had 
known what he had in his mind, he would 
have called it all wrong. Brasig beckoned 
the night-watchman, David Dasel, to step 
aside, and asked him where his instrument 
was. David bethought himself a little, 
and finally answered, “ Here ! ” holding up 
his staff, for Fritz Triddelsitz had ordered 
all the day-laborers to bring them along, 
“that they might do the honors to the 
Herr Lieutenant,” as he said. 

“Blockhead!” cried Brasig, “I mean 
your musical instrument.” 

“ You mean my horn ? That is at 
home.” 

“ Can you play pieces on it? ” 

“ Yes,” said David Dasel, he could play 
one. 

“Well,” said Br'asig, “bring your in- 
strument, and come out behind the cattle- 
stall, and I will hear you play.” 

And when they were alone, David put 
the horn to his mouth, and blew, as if the 
whole cattle-stall were in flames : “ The 
Prussians have taken Paris. Good times 
are coming now, — toot 1 toot ! ” for he 
was very musical. “ Hold ! ” said Brasig, 

« you must blow quietly now, for I want 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


94 

to give Ilabermann a pleasant surprise; 
by and by, when the lieutenant comes, you 
can blow louder. And when the school- 
master is through with his ecclesiastical 
business, then keep watch of me; I will 
give you a sign, when I wave the flag three 
times, then begin.” 

“ Yes, Herr Inspector ; but the old 
watch-dog ought to be tied fast in his ken- 
nel, for we are not on good terms of late, 
~ and whenever he sees me with my horn, 
he flies at me.” 

“It shall be attended to,” said Brasig, 
and he went back with D'asel, to the cele- 
bration, and grasped his flag-staff again, 
just at the right moment, for Fritz Trid- 
delsitz came riding over the hill, as fast as 
old Gray could gallop : “ They’re coming 1 
They’re coming 1 They are in Gurlitz 
already ! ” 

They were coming. Axel von Rambow 
and his lovely young wife rode slowly on, 
in the lovely morning ; the chaise-top was 
down, and Axel pointed over the wide 
green fields, full of sunshine, to the cool 
shadows of the Pumpelhagen park : “ See, 
dearest Frida, this is our home.” The 
words were few, but much happiness lay 
in them, and much pride, that he was in 
circumstances to spread a soft couch for 
the dearest one he had on earth ; if he had 
said it in a thousand words, she could not 
have understood him more clearly. She 
felt the happiness and pride in his heart, 
and a great wave of love and thankfulness 
broke over her own. Everything about 
her was cool, and fresh, and clear ; she was 
like a cool brook, which, until now, had 
flowed under green, silent shadows, aside 
from the highway, through hills and for- 
ests, and now springs forth suddenly into 
golden sunshine, and sees in its own depths 
bright pebbles and close-shut mussels, 
treasures of which it had never dreamed, 
and bright little fish darting hither and 
yon, like wishes and longings for working 
and waking, and green banks and flowers 
mirrored in the clear water, like her joyous 
future life. 

And outwardly, she was cool, and fresh, 
and clear, and agreed in all respects with 
Ivrischan Dasel’s description ; but if one had 
seen her at this moment, as she looked over 
toward the Pumpelhagen garden, and back 
again into her young husband’s face, he 
would have seen the fresh cheeks take on 
a deeper glow, and the clear light that 
shone from her gray eyes, a softer, warmer 
radiance, as when the summer evening 
bends over the bright world, and hushes it 
to sweet sleep with a cradle-song. 

“ Ah,” she cried, pressing his hand, 
4< how beautiful it' is here, at your home I 


What rich fields ! Only see, how stately 
the wheat stands ! I have never seen it so 
before.” 

“ Yes,” said Axel, happy in her pleasure, 
“ we have a rich country, much richer than 
your region.” 

He might have kept silence, now, and it 
would have been quite as well ; but she 
had touched unwittingly upon his favorite 
province, that of agriculture, and he must 
needs show her that he knew something 
of it, so he added : “ But that must all be 
altered. We are lacking in intelligence, 
we don’t know how to make the most of 
our soil. See ! yonder there, over the hill, 
where the wheat is growing, that belongs 
to Pumpelhagen, wait a couple of years, 
and we will have all sorts of commercial 
products growing here, and bringing us 
three times the profit.” And he began to 
harvest his hemp and hops and oil-seeds, 
and anise and cummin, and sprinkled 
among them, like an intelligent farmer, 
lucerne and esparcet also, “ to keep his 
cattle in good condition,” and while he 
was among the dyer’s weeds, and selling 
his red madder, and blue woad, and yellow 
weld for a good price, and well in the 
saddle on his high horse, up shot a living 
example of all these bright colors, close by 
the turn, on this side of Gurlitz, who was 
also on a high horse, that is the gray pony. 
This was Fritz Triddelsitz, who went up 
like a complete rainbow, and disappeared 
like a shooting star. 

“What was that?” cried Frida, and 
Axel called “Hallo! hallo!” 

But Fritz never looked round, he must 
carry tidings to the gate-of-honor, and he 
had barely time, as he galloped through 
Gurlitz, to call out to Pomuchelskopp, who 
stood in his door, “ They are coming ! 
They will be in Gurlitz in five minutes ! ” 
and Pomuchelskopp called over the garden 
fence, toward the arbor : “ Come, Malchen 
and Salchen ! It is time now 1 ” 

And Malchen and Salchen threw down 
the landscape paintings they were embroi- 
dering, among the nettles by the -arbor, 
and tied on their straw hats, and fastened 
themselves one on each side^ to Father 
Pomuchelskopp’s elbows, and Father Po- 
muchelskopp said, “ Now don’t look round, 
for pity’s sake, for it must appear as if we 
had just gone out walking, for all I care, 
to see the beauties of nature.” 

But misfortune was impending. As 
Muchel and his young ladies stepped out 
of the door, and Axel rode slowly through 
the village, while his young wife asked 
him “ who was that lovely girl, who just 
greeted us ? ” and he replied that it was 
Louise Habermann, his inspector’s daugh- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


ter, and the house where she stood was the 
parsonage, the devil of housekeeping pos- 
sessed old Hiiuning to come out, in her 
white kerchief and old black merino sacque, 
— for it still held together, and was plenty 
good enough, — to feed the little turkeys 
with malt grains. When she saw Pom- 
uchelskopp walking off with his two 
daughters, she thought it a great piece of 
impertinence for her Muchel to go off with- 
out her ; she wiped her hands on the old 
black merino, and hastened after, black 
and white, stiff and straight, as if one of 
the old, mouldering tombstones, in the 
church-yard near by, had taken a fancy to 
go walking for pleasure. 

“ Muchel ! ” she called after her husband. 

“ Don’t look round ! ” said Muchel, “ it 
must all appear quite natural.” 

“ Kopp,” she cried, “ will you stop V shall 
I run myself out of breath for you V ” 

‘‘For all I care,” said Pomuchelskopp 
angrily. “Don’t look round, children, I 
hear the carriage, it must seem quite off- 
hand.” 

“But, father,” said Salchen, “it is 
mother.” 

“ Ah, mother here, and mother there ! ” 
cried Pomuchelskopp, downright angry, 
“ she will spoil the whole business ! But, 
my dear children,” he added, upon a little 
reflection, “you need not tell mother I 
said so.” 

And Klucking came puffing up : “ Kopp ! ” 
but she had not time for fuller expression 
of her feelings, for the carriage came oppo- 
site, and Pomuchelskopp stood, bowing : 
“ A-a-ah ! Congratulations — best wishes, 
God bless them ! ” and Malchen and Sal- 
chen courtesied, and Axel bade the coach- 
man stop, and said he was very happy to 
see his Herr Neighbor and his family 
looking so well, and Muchel tugged secret- 
ly at the old black sacque, to make H'au- 
ning courtesy also, but she stood stiff and 
straight, puffing away, as if the reception 
was too wa)rm to suit her, and Frida sat 
there, very cool, as if the thing was not 
much to her taste. And Muchel began to 
speak of the wonderful coincidence, that 
he should have just started out walking 
with his two daughters, but he got a poke 
from his Hanning’s elbow, and heard a 
venomous whisper, “ So your wife is of no 
account, is she ? ” so that he lost the 
thread of his discourse, and went rambling 
about in a distressed manner, until Axel 
bade the coachmen drive on, saying he 
hoped to see Herr Pomuchelskopp again 
soon. 

Pomuchelskopp stood in anguish, by the 
roadside, hanging his head, and Malchen 
and Salchen took hold of his arms again, 


95 

and instead of going on naturally with 
their walk they went back to the house, 
and behind him marched Hanning, and led 
him, with gentle reproaches, back to his 
duty again ; but he remembered this hour 
for a year and a day, and her reproofs he 
never forgot while his life lasted. 

“ Those seem very disagreeable people,” 
said Frida, as they drove on. 

“ They are, indeed,” replied Axel, “ but, 
they are very rich.” 

“ Mere riches are a small recommenda- 
tion,” said Frida. 

“True, dear Frida, but the man is a 
large proprietor, and since they are such 
near neighbors, we must keep up some in- 
tercourse with these people.” 

“ Do you really mean it, Axel ? ” 

“ Certainly,” he replied. 

She sat a little while, reflecting, and 
then inquired, suddenly ; — 

“ What sort of man is the Pastor ? ” 

“ I know very little of him, myself, but 
my father thought very highly of him, and 
my inspector reveres him wonderfully. 
But,” he added, after a moment, “ that is 
natural enough, the Pastor has brought up 
his only daughter, since she was a little 
child.” 

“ Oh, yes, that charming girl, at the 
door of the parsonage; but the Pastor’s 
wife must have had the most to do with 
that. Do you know her ? ” 

“ Why yes, — that is to say, I have seen 
her, — she is a lively old lady.” 

“ They are certainly good people,” said 
Frida, with decision. 

“Dear Frida,” said Axel, drawing him- 
self up a little, “how you women jump at 
conclusions ! Because these people have 
brought up a strange child, and — we will 
take it for granted that they have brought 
her up well — you — ” and he was going 
on, in his shallow wisdom, which he called 
“knowledge of human nature,”— for it is 
an old story that those who have come 
into the world as blind as young puppies, 
and have only nine days’ experience, are 
the very ones to pride themselves on their 
“ knowledge of human nature ; ” — but, 
unfortunately for the world, he had no 
opportunity, for his Frida sprang up sud- 
denly, crying, — 

“ See, Axel, see ! A flag, and a tri- 
umphal arch! The people mean to give 
us a grand reception.” 

And Degel, the coachman, looked round 
over his shoulder, with a grin of delight : 

“ Yes, gracious lady. I was not to speak 
of it ; but now you can see it for yourself, 
and it is a great pleasure. But I must 
drive slowly, or else the horses will be 
frightened.” 


96 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER XV. 

And now they were come ; and Haber- 
mann stepped up to the carriage, and 
spoke a few words, which sprang from his 
heart to his lips, and the clear eyes of the 
young wife shone on the white hair of 
the old man like a sunbeam, full of 
friendly warmth, and before Axel noticed, 
— for with his surprise and his interrupted 
discourse, he was not prepared for the oc- 
casion, — she reached out her hand to him, 
and with the grasp of the hand a friend- 
ship was settled, without a word, for each 
had looked into the eyes of the other, and 
had read there clearness, truth and con- 
fidence. And now Axel was ready with 
his hand, and Schoolmaster Strull came 
forward with his Asels, and struck up a 
song of “ Thanksgiving for particular occa- 
sions,” No. 545, out of the Mecklenburg 
Psalm-book, “ After a heavy thunder- 
storm,” beginning, like a sensible man, 
with the second verse, because it seemed 
to him particularly appropriate, — 

“We praise Thy might. Oh Lord,” — 

and Brasig was trying to wave the flag, 
but Gust Kegel held it fast. 

“ Let go of the string, you rascal 1 ” 
cried Brasig. 

“ We know Thine anger’s power,” 

sung the schooolmaster. 

“Boy, let go the string out of your 
hand I ” screamed Brasig again. 

“ Protect us by Thy grace 

In sorrow’s gloomy hour,” — 

sung the schoolmaster. 

“Boy, when I get hold of you, I’ll 
break every bone in your body 1 ” roared 
Brasig. 

“ They who rest within Thy arm, 

Shall be sate from every harm,” 

sang the schoolmaster. 

“ Herr, it sticks fast in the poplar,” cried 
the boy, and Brasig tugged at the flag, 
and brought down with it part of a 
branch, while the schoolmaster sung, 

“ How it roars and crashes ! ” 

and Fritz Triddlesitz ran for the dinner- 
bell, which hung in the door-way, and played 
a storm, and Brasig waved the flag, and the 
men and women, and servants and maids, 
and boys and girls shouted “ Vivat 1 ” and 
“ Hurrah 1 ” and David Diisel blew on his 
horn: “The Prussians have taken Paris, 
good times are coming now, toot ! toot ! 


| toot ! ” and it was all so festive that no dog 
could help howling, and at the last “ toot 1 ” 
j out sprang the old watch-dog, which Gust 
Kegel had mischievously unfastened, so 
that he might enjoy himself with the rest, 
and made straight for David Dasel’s legs, 
and the two brown coach-dogs also began 
to sniff and howl in such a singular man- 
ner that it was really a piece of good for- 
tune that Degel the coachman had his 
reins well in hand, and was prepared for 
emergencies. 

As it was, all passed off well, and the 
carriage soon arrived safely at the manor- 
house, and Axel lifted out his lovely young 
bride. Inside the house, there was the 
same preparation and adornment, with 
flowers and greens, as outside, and among 
the wreaths and garlands, Marie Moller in 
a new red jaconet dress, with a fiery red 
face, moved her fiery red arms hither and 
thither, and when she had cooled off a 
little among the greens, ran back into the 
kitchen, to the cooking stove, as if she 
were a flatiron-heater, which must be kept 
constantly red-hot, — and when the gra- 
cious young lady stepped across the thresh- 
old, she came towards her, with her fiery 
arms outspread, as if she were a priestess 
of Moloch, and placed a wreath of bright 
red roses on the young lady’s head, and 
then, falling back a couple of paces, and 
gesticulating with the fiery arm, as if 
striking out brilliant flames, she repeated a 
verse, which she had been learning for the 
last three months, under Brasig’s tuition, — 

“ Hail, beauteous lady, sweet and bright. 

Accomplished, virtuous, wise and bland, 

Deign to accept this offering slight, 

From your devoted, humble servant’s hand.” 

And when she had said her lesson, she 
threw wide open the door of the dining- 
room, and there stood a table spread for 
dinner, in good season, for it was high 
noon, and Axel said a word or two to his 
wife, and she nodded in a pleaded way un 
der her wreath of rose3, and turned to the 
old inspector: he must be her guest to- 
day, and also the schoolmaster, and the 
young farmer, and would the old gentle- 
man who had waved the flag honor them 
with his company also ? Then she went to 
Marie Moller, and thanked her for her fine 
speech and all that she. had done to wel- 
come them, and would she have time to 
enjoy with them the nice things she had 
prepared ? And Marie Moller became as 
red with delight as if there were a cook- 
ing stove in her heart, filled with glowing 
coals. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


So, before long, they all came in. Ha- 
bermann brought up Brasig, and intro- 
duced him as his old friend of many years’ 
standing, who had also been well ac- 
quainted with the late Herr Kammerrath, 
and would by no means be found wanting 
in taking his part in the rejoicing at Pum- 
pelhagen. And Brasig went to Axel, and 
got hold of his hand, will he, nill he, and 
squeezed it, and, shaking his head back 
and forth, assured him of his friendship for 
life and death : “ Herr Lieutenant, very 
dear and welcome, as I just said to Karl, 
how glad I shall be if you only take after 
your good father ! ” And then he turned 
to the young lady : “ Gracious Frau Lieu- 
tenant,” and fumbled after her hand, which 
he succeeded in grasping, and it looked as 
if he intended to kiss it ; but he held it for 
a moment, and then said, “ No ! not that 1 
I always kissed the hand of my gracious 
countess, and it was proper, as a token 
of service; I will not take that liberty, 
you are so lovely to look at ; but if you 
ever need an old man’s service — my name 
is Zachary Brasig — just send for me, — a 
short mile from here — Haunerwiem, — 
and the day shall not be too hot for me, or 
the night too dark.” 

Brasig’s speeches were peculiar things ; 
honest folks have a way of talking right 
out of their hearts, without thinking, at 
the moment, how they will be understood. 
Axel did not take it as it was meant. 
That such an one as Inspector Brasig 
should presume to hold up an example to 
him, — even if it were his own father, to 
whom he was so deeply indebted, — did 
not suit him ; he was put out of humor. 
Frida, who went to the heart of every- 
thing, took the old inspector’s speech in 
her hand, like an onion, and shredded off 
the old, dry skins, one after another, and 
found a bright, hard kernel inside, and, as 
she cut it across, there was such a sound 
heart disclosed that she took the old fellow 
by the hand, and made him sit next to her 
at table. 

Then came Fritz Triddelsitz, in the 
guise of a young proprietor, for he had 
arrayed himself in his blue coat with gilt 
buttons, which looked, for all the world, 
like a young son of Pomuchelskopp’s. 
And then came Schoolmaster Strull, a 
great, strong fellow, whom the Lord had 
made fitter to be a hewer of wood than a 
trainer of children. The old boy looked, 
with his big head and his black suit, which 
was getting rusty, like a stout wheel-nail, 
which Fate had shoved to the wall, and 
which had quietly rusted there. His face 
was rather rusty, too, and the only thing 

7 


97 

which looked gay about him was his shirt- 
bosom, which his old mother, because it 
was a little yellow, had dipped so gener- 
ously in the blueing, that a fine sea-green 
color was the result. 

These two were treated with special 
attention by Axel, and when he heard that 
Fritz’s father was an apothecary in 
Rahnstadt, and could make chemical 
analyses (Analysen), he asked Fritz to sit 
next him, and as Uncle Brasig heard the 
word “ Analysen ” he snapped it out of 
the Herr Lieutenant’s mouth, and said, 
aside to Ilabermanil, “ Alleliisen ? Allelii- 
sen ? What does he mean by Alleliisen ? 
Some kind of vermin ? ” and without wait- 
ing for an answer, he said to Axel : “ Gra- 
cious Herr Lieutenant, for such stuff you 
must let the apothecary’s son bring you a 
pot of “ungewendten Napoleon,” (un- 
guentum Neapolitarum), which was, natu- 
rally, quite incomprehensible to Axel. 
But if he had understood it, he had no 
time to explain, for as soon as they were 
fairly seated, — the schoolmaster not more 
than a quarter, for he balanced himself on 
the edge of his chair, — he launched forth 
into his favorite subject, the farming of 
the estate, and began to enrich the fields 
with bone-dust, and Chili saltpetre and 
guano, and laid out behind the garden a 
great plantation of hops ; while old Haber- 
mann said to himself, he had not thought 
the young Herr knew so little about farm- 
ing, and wondered how Brasig could sit 
there and laugh at it all. But that was 
very natural, since Brasig took all these 
brilliant plans of Axel’s for a good joke, 
and when the young Herr had got his hop- 
field in working order, Brasig laughed 
heartily, and said, “Of course the soil 
must first be prepared, — and when we are 
through with this preparation, we can 
fertilize it a little more, and then we can 
raise raisins and almonds, to feed the pigs 
with ; you have no idea, gracious Frau 
Lieutenant,” — turning to the lady — “ how 
sweet a pig tastes, that is fatted on raisins 
and almonds.” 

This was not pleasing to Axel ; he 
looked down, and knitted his brows in 
vexation ; but he was too fairly started in 
his agricultural progress to be turned 
back for such a trifle ; he began on tillage, 
and told about his invention of a machine 
for a clod-breaker, and with that he turned 
graciously to his neighbor, to Fritz Trid- 
delsitz, who gave such uncommonly in- 
telligent answers that Marie Moller sat 
listening, with open mouth, and inwardly 
smote on her breast, and cried, “ God be 
merciful to me a sinner ! Ignorant worm 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


98 

that I am. to stretch out my hand toward 
him I No 1 a goose might as well seek to 
mate with an eagle.” 

When the dinner was over, the gracious 
lady arose, took her leave of the company, 
and said to Habermann that Axel and 
herself proposed going over the estate, the 
next morning, and reckoned on his com- 
pany to show them the way. Habermann 
assented with pleasure, and when she had 
left the room the bottle went round the 
table once more, and Daniel Sadenwater 
brought cigars. 

At Frida’s request, Axel had retained 
the old servant, and Daniel had put on 
the old master's knife and fork, and so 
consecrated them, in his mind, to the new 
master, and every time he presented a 
dish on the salver to his young Herr, he 
laid himself with it as an offering, and 
his old eyes said clearly, his young mas- 
ter might do with him whatever he liked, 
he had given him all. 

Brasig accepted a “ Zichalie,” as he 
called them, and informed Herr von Ram- 
bow that he smoked such a thing, now and 
then, of Koster Broker’s make, though 
they were a little strong to be sure. 
Axel made no reply ; he did not like Bra- 
sig, he thought he had been laughing at 
him, and did not appreciate his knowledge 
of agriculture. Fritz Triddelsitz was a 
much more agreeable listener ; he had 
nodded, and shaken his head, and admired 
so much, and ah’d and oh’d and won- 
dered, till Axel appeared to himself a 
great light in agriculture, set up on a lofty 
candlestick, to enlighten Pumpelhagen and 
the country round about, and, for all I 
know, the world itself. 

As I have often said, Axel was a good 
fellow, he liked to make everything bright 
and pleasant about him ; the good dinner, 
the costly wine, the feeling that he was 
master, had excited benevolent thoughts, 
to which he must give expression. He 
called Habermann to the window, and 
asked him how he was satisfied with Fritz. 
Habermann said, pretty well ; he had 
learned a good many things, and he 
hoped, in time, he might become a skilful 
farmer. This was quite enough, in Axel’s 
gracious mood ; he asked, farther, how 
much salary Fritz received, and whether 
he had a horse. No, said Habermann, he 
had neither horse nor salary, as yet ; he 
gave nothing, and he got nothing. 

Axel then turned to Fritz, and said, 

“ Dear Triddelsitz, I am glad to hear from 
the Herr Inspector that he is very much 
pleased with you; I shall do myself the 
pleasure of offering you, for the next year, ‘ 


a small salary of fifty thalers, and the 
keeping of a horse.” 

Fritz could not believe his ears; that 
Habermann was very much pleased with 
him was sufficiently wonderful, — fifty 
thalers, that would be very nice ; but a 
horse ! that took away his breath and his 
senses, so that he could scarcely thank 
Axel. The latter left him little time, how- 
ever, but turned back to Habermann, at 
the window. And now galloped through 
Fritz’s brain all the old horses of the 
whole region, black and brown and gray 
and chestnut, and he held parley with each 
one of them, as if the Rahnstadt horse- 
market were going on in his head, and 
Brasig sat opposite and grinned. 

All at once, this blessed child of fortune 
cried out, “ Herr Inspector, next month 
the Grand Duke makes his entry into 
Rahnstadt, I must have her by that time, 
for the reception, for we young country- 
people are to receive him.” 

“ Whom must you have ? ” asked Brasig. 

“ The chestnut mare, the Whalebone 
mare, Gust Prebberow has her.” 

“ I know her,” said Brasig, very coolly. 

“ Famous horse ! ” 

“ An old sch ” he couldn’t say schin- 

der (carrion,) he bethought himself in time 
that he was in a distinguished house, so he 
said, “ she is an old shyer, and you can’t 
do anything with her when the Grand 
Duke comes to Rahnstadt, for she camot 
hear a ‘ Hurrah ! ’ ” 

That was fatal, for a great many hurrahs 
would be necessary on that occasion ; but 
Fritz knew that Brasig delighted in con- 
tradicting him, on every opportunity, and 
he would not let him see his disappoint- 
ment. 

Meanwhile, Axel had favored the old 
inspector with a brief discourse upon the 
progress recently made in the science of 
agriculture, and at the close, put into the 
old man’s hand a book, with the words, “ I 
have the pleasure of giving you this book ; 
it should be the Bible of every farmer.” 

Habermann thanked him gratefully, 
and, as it was now beginning to grow 
dark, the company broke up. The two 
old inspectors and Schoolmaster Strull, 
who was invited to accompany them, went 
to Habermann’s house; Fritz Triddelsitz 
went to the stables. 

What he wanted there, nobody knew, 
certainly not himself, but a sort of instinct 
drew him toward the horses, as if to bring 
his inner man into harmony with the out- 
ward world, and so he went, in the half- 
twilight, up and down behind, the old 
farm-horses, that he had seen a thousand 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


times, and examined their legs. This one 
had spavin, — nobody should sell him a 
spavined horse, he would take care of that, 

— bones shaped like a ship ; this one was 
balky, — he found out what a balky 
horse was, two years ago ; this had fits, — 
a man must be a fool to be imposed upon 
by such a horse ; this had swellings, not 
dangerous, blistered a little by the crupper- 
iron ; and then came wind-galls, and other 
ills which horse-flesh is heir to ; and 
through all this his thoughts were dwelling 
on a friendly smile, and a wonderfully fair 
face, that of his gracious lady, with whom, 
since dinner, he had fallen desperately in 
love, and the ungrateful rascal was con- 
spiring against the happiness of the master 
who had just been so kind to him. 

“ Yes,” said he, as he stood in the stable- 
door, and the evening light sunk softly in- 
to darkness, “ what is Louise Habermann 
compared with this angel ! No, Louise, I 
am sorry for you ! But I cannot imagine 
how I came to fall in love with you. And 
then Mining and Lining ! A pair of little 
goslings ! And Marie Moller, to be sure ! 
A lump of misfortune ! How she looked 
to-day beside the gracious lady, like a wild 
plum beside a peach. And when I get the 
chestnut mare, then — ‘ Gracious lady, 
any commands ? ’ Perhaps a letter for the 
post ? or when she is coming home from 
some ball at Rahnstadt, and old Daniel 
Sadenwater is not at hand — down with 
the carriage steps, hand her out — ‘Ah, I 
have forgotten my handkerchief,’ or ‘my 
overshoes,’ — ‘ They shall be sent for im- 
mediately,’ and then I mount my chestnut, 

— hs — hsch — off we go, — in half an 
hour I am back again. ‘ Gracious lady, 
here are the overshoes,’ and then she says, 
‘Thanks, dear Triddelsitz, for this kind- 
ness,’ — thunder and lightning! the con- 
founded pole ! ” for as he went back to the 
house, in the dark, absorbed in these charm- 
ing anticipations, he stumbled over a 
carriage-pole, left there by his own negli- 
gence, and lay, in all his gorgeous attire, 
upon something which felt very soft. 
What it was, he didn’t know, but his nose 
had a sort of suspicion, and he thought he 
should do well to examine himself by the 
light, before going into Habermann’s 
room. 

Meanwhile the three old men had gone 
in, and, as they were sitting in the twi- 
light, Brasig asked : 

“ Karl, is the book a story-book, to read 
in the winter evenings ? ” 

“Eh, Zachary, I don’t know. I will 
light a candle, and we can see.” 

When it was light, Habermann was going 1 


99 

to look at the title; but Brasig took the 
book out of his hand : 

“No, Karl, we have a scholar here, let 
Strull read it.” 

Strull began to read, all in a breath, as 
if he were reading the Sunday’s lesson out 
of the Gospels, stopping only for a strange 
word : “ ‘ Printed by Friedrich Vieweg and 
Son in Brunswick Chemistry in its Rela- 
tion to Agriculture and Phy-si-o-logy.’ ” 

“ Hold! ” cried Brasig, “that word isn’t 
right, it should be ‘ fisionomy.’ ” 

“ No,” said Strull, “ it is spelled ‘ physi- 
ology.’ ” 

“For all I care, Strull,” said Brasig; 
“ let them spell their outlandish words as 
they please, at one time this way, another 
time another way. Go ahead ! ” 

“ ‘ By Justus Liebig, Doctor of Medicine 
and Philosophy, Professor of Chemistry 
at the Ludwig’s University at Giessen, 
Knight of the Grand Ducal Hessian Lud- 
wig’s Order, and of the Imperial Russian 
St. Annen, Order of the Third Class, Cor- 
responding Member of the Royal Acade- 
my of Science at Stockholm,’ — now comes 
some Latin which I cannot read, — ‘ Hon- 
orary Member of the Royal Academy at 
Dublin ’ ” 

“ Stop ! ” cried Brasig, “ Lord preserve 
us, what is all this fellow ? ” 

“But that isn’t all, by a great deal, 
there is ever so much more.” 

“We will give him the rest. Go 
ahead ! ” 

“ ‘ Fifth Revised and much Enlarged 
Edition. Brunswick published by Vieweg 
and Son 1843.’ Now comes a preface.” 

“ Let that go, too,” said Brasig. “ Begin 
at the beginning.” 

“ The heading runs in this way : ‘ Sub- 
ject ’ with a line underneath.” 

“ Well ! ” said Brasig. “ Go on ! ” 

“ ‘ Organic Chemistry has for its purpose 
the investigation of the chemical condi- 
tions of life, and the complete development 
of all organisms.’ Period.” 

“ What sort of things ? ” asked Brasig. 

“ All organisms,” said the schoolmaster. 

“ Well,” exclaimed Brasig, “ I have 
heard a great many outlandish words, but 

‘ organisms,’ organ Hold ! Karl, don’t 

you know ‘ Herr Orgon stood before his 
door,’ that we used to learn by heart, with 
Pastor Behrens, out of Gellert ? Do you 
suppose this organ can be any connection 
of his ? ” 

“ Let it go, for the present, Brasig, we 
don’t understand it yet.” 

“No? why not, Karl?” said his old 
friend, “We can learn. You will see, 
this is a water-book; they always begin 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


100 

with something you can’t understand. Go 
ahead ! ” 

“ ‘ The existence of all living beings is 
carried on by the reception of certain 
materials into the system, which we call 
means of nourishment ; they are expended 
by the organism for its own improvement 
and reproduction. Period.” 

“ The man is right there,” said Br|isig ; 
“Means of nourishment belong to living 
beings, and” — taking the book out of 
Strull’s hands, “ ‘ they are expended by 
the organism,’ — now I know what organ- 
ism means ; it means the stomach.” 

“ Yes,” said the schoolmaster, “ but then 
here is 1 reproduction.’ ” 

“ Ah,” said Brasig, off hand, “ produc- 
tion ! TVe have got used to that of late 
years ; when I was a child, nobody knew 
anything about production ; but now they 
call every bushel of wheat and every ox a 
production. It is only an ornamental 
way of speaking, that they may appear 
learned.” 

So they went on for a little while, until 
the schoolmaster went home, and when he 
had gone, the two old friends sat together, 
quietly and trustfully, — for Brasig was to 
spend the night at Pumpelhagen, — until 
Habermann gave a deep sigh, and said : 

“ Ah, Zachary, I am afraid there are 
hard times coming for me.” 

“ Why so ? Your young Herr is a lively, 
witty fellow ; what amusing things he said 
about farming ! ” 

“ Yes, that is the very thing ; you took 
it for jest, but he meant it for earnest.” 

“ He meant it for earnest ? ” 

“ Certainly he did. He has studied 
farming out of new-fashioned books, and 
they don’t agree with our old ways, and 
though I should be very glad to under- 
stand the new methods, I can’t do it, I 
haven’t the requisite knowledge.” 

“You are right there, Karl! See, the 
sciences always seem to me, like seafaring. 
When one has been used to it from a child, 
going up the mast, and out on the shrouds, 
he can do it when he is old without being 
dizzy-headed, and so a school-boy, who is 
trained in the sciences from his youth up, 
wont be dizzy either and can run out 
with ease, even in his old age, on any rope 
that science stretches out for him. Do you 
understand me, Karl ? ” 

“I understand you. But we did not 
learn in our young days, and for dancing 
on such ropes,” pointing to the book, “ my 
old bones are too stiff. Ah, I would not 
say a word against it, he can farm in the 
new fashion, for all me, and I will help him 
to the best of my power ; but this kind of 


farming needs a long purse, and that is 
something we haven’t got. I supposed, at 
first, he would get something with his 
wife ; but it couldn’t have been much, for 
even the new equipage and the new fur- 
niture were ordered from Rahnstadt, and 
the first shilling is not yet paid for 
them.” 

“ Well, Karl, never mind ; he hasn’t 
made a bad bargain. The lady pleased 
me uncommonly.” 

“ She pleased me, too, Brasig.” 

“And you can see by your own dear 
sister, what the right sort of woman can 
accomplish, in a family. I must go and 
see her to-morrow, for the two confounded 
divinity students will be getting into all 
sorts of mischief. And so, good-night, 
Karl.” 

“ Good-night, Brasig.” 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Fritz Triddelsitz darted about the 
Pumpelhagen court-yard next morning, 
like a pickerel in a fish-pond, for he had 
put on his little uniform, the green hunt- 
ing-jacket, and gray breeches, to please 
the gracious lady, — as he said, — that her 
lovely eyes might have something agree- 
able to look upon. His own eyes, which 
were usually directed to Habermann’s 
window like the compass to the north star, 
wandered this morning over the whole 
front of the manor-house, and when a win- 
dow was raised, and the young Herr put 
his head out and called to him, he darted 
across the court-yard, like a pickerel, as if 
Axel in his silver-gray dressing-gown were 
a flat-fish, and the red handkerchief about 
his neck were the fins. 

“ Triddelsitz,” said Herr von Rainbow, 

“ I have decided to make a little address 
to my people this morning ; get them to- 
gether here at nine o’clock, before the 
house.” 

“To command,” said Fritz, using this 
form of speech to do honor to the Herr 
Lieutenant. 

“ Where is the inspector ? I wish to 
speak to him ; there is no hurry, however.” 

“ He has just gone out with Inspector 
Brasig.” 

“ Very well. 'When he comes back.” 

“Fritz made a particularly fine bow, 
and went off ; but turned back after a lit- 
tle, and asked : — 

“ Does Herr von Rambow wish the 
women to come also ? ” 

“ No, merely the men. However, — wait 
a moment, — yes, you may tell the house- 
wives to come.” 

“ To command,” said Fritz, and went to 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


the village, ^and told the housewives and 
the men who were at work about the farm- 
yard, to put on their best clothes. It was 
eight o’clock already, and if the farm- 
laborers who were at work in the fields 
were to be there by nine, and also in state, 
they must be called. So he started for the 
fields. 

Habermann had walked a little way 
with his old friend, and was now crossing 
the field to join the laborers,^ when Fritz 
came hurrying over the hill, as fast as his 
slovenly gait and the -broken ground of 
the ploughed field would allow. 

“ Herr Inspector, you must let them stop 
work, the people are all to be at the man- 
or-house by nine o’clock, the Herr is going 
to deliver an oration.” 

“ What is he going to do ? ” asked Haber- 
mann, in astonishment. 

“ Deliver an oration,” was the reply, 
“the laborers have already been notified, 
and the woman also. He had forgotten 
them, but I reminded him of them in time.” 

“You might ’’have been in better 

business, Habermann was going to say, but 
controlled himself, and said quietly, “ then 
do your errand to the people.” 

“ You are to come, too.” 

“Very well,” said the old man, and 
turned, quite out of humor, towards the 
house. He had pressing work for his 
teams, and they would be taken out of 
the field for the whole morning ; however 
he could have got over that, that was not 
the trouble. His master had issued 
orders, the very first day, without taking 
him into counsel, he had consulted with 
Triddelsitz instead, and there could be no 
hurry about the matter ; but although he 
felt the slight, it wasn’t that so much 
which annoyed him ; it was the “ oration ” 
itself. Why should he talk to the people ? 
Would he admonish them about their du- 
ties? The people were good, they did 
their work as simply and naturally a3 eat- 
ing and drinking, they had no idea that 
they were doing any thing remarkable ; 
and it was a mistake to lecture such people 
about their duties. If they were much 
talked to, they would begin to grow dis- 
couraged. In one sense laborers are like 
children, they would soon reckon their 
duty as a merit. Or was he going to be- 
stow gifts upon them? He was good- 
natured enough. But what would he give 
them ? They had all that they needed, and 
he could not give them anything definite, he 
did not know their circumstances well 
enough, he could merely give them fair 
words and general promises, which each 
would fill out according to his own wishes, 


101 

and which it would be impossible to make 
good. And so he would make the people 
discontented. 

These were his thoughts, as he entered 
his master’s room. The young wife was 
there, ready for the walk agreed upon the 
night before. She came towards him in a 
friendly manner : “We must wait a little 
while, Herr Inspector ; Axel will speak to 
the people first.” 

“That will not take long,” said Axel, 
who was turning over his papers. There 
was a knock at the door. “ Come in ! ” 
and Fritz entered, with a letter in his 
hand. “ From Gurlitz,” said he. 

Axel broke the seal, and read ; it was 
an odious letter, it was from Slushur, the 
notary, who announced himself as coming 
before noon, with David ; they were acci- 
dentally at Herr Pomuchelskopp’s, and 
had heard from him that Herr von Ram- 
bow was returned, and since they must 
speak with him on necessary business, 
they begged his permission, etc. The busi- 
ness was very urgent, however, as was 
mentioned in a postscript. Axel was in 
great perplexity, for he could not decline 
the visit ; he went out and told the mes- 
senger the gentlemen were welcome, and 
when he came in again, he seemed so dis- 
turbed that his wife asked, “ What is the 
matter ? ” 

“ Oh, nothing. But I think my talk to 
the laborers may take longer than I sup- 
posed ; it will be best for you to go alone 
with the Herr Inspector to see the fields.” 

“ Oh, Axel, I was so pleased at the 
thought of going with you.” 

“ Yes ; but it cannot be helped, my dear 
child. I know the fields well enough. Go 
with the Herr Inspector, dear Frida, and 
— well, as soon as ever I can, I will follow 
you.” 

It seemed to Habermann that he was 
really in haste to get rid of them ; so he 
helped him in his design, and the young 
lady finally started, upon his invitation, 
though a little out of humor. 

When they were gone, and the whole 
village had come together, Axel made his 
address, although the pleasure of this state 
occasion was quite spoiled for him by that 
infamous letter ; for, however he might put 
it to himself, his own pleasure, and the im- 
portance which he felt as master, were his 
chief reasons for the undertaking. As for 
the speech itself, it happened much as Ha- 
bermann had feared. Admonitions and 
promises, in lofty words and fine figures 
of speech, paraded themselves quite unin- 
telligibly before the old laborers’ eyes, and 
the only things which they saw clearly, 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


102 

though somewhat dazzled by these, were 
the golden wings of the benefits he prom- 
ised them, saying that his people were to 
come to him with every wish ; he would 
care for them like a father. 

“ Yes,” said Pasel to D'asel, “ ‘ father ; ’ 
I like that. He will do it. I shall go to 
him to-morrow, and ask him to let me 
wean a calf next year.” 

“ But you had one last year.” 

“ That is no matter ; I can sell it to the 
weaver in Gurlitz.” 

“ Yes,” said Kegel to Degel. “ I shall go 
to him to-morrow, and ask him to let me 
have twenty roods more of potato land 
next spring ; mine will not last through the 
winter.” 

“Eh! you didn’t hoe your potatoes at 
the right time ; the old man gave you a 
fine scolding for it.” 

“No matter; he knows nothing about it, 
and he is master now, and not the inspect- 
or.” 

So unrest and discontent were in full 
progress; Axel himself was restless and 
discontented, because he dreaded the com- 
ing visit, and the only being at the Pum- 
pelhagen farm, who, though restless, was 
yet contented, was Fritz Triddelsitz, so the 
young Herr had not altogether thrown his 
pearls before swine. 

Slusuhr and David came, and what shall 
I say about their visit ? They sang the 
same song which they did before, and Axel 
had to write the notes for it. This time, 
he did it readily. Borrowing is certainly 
a bad business ; but there is not a business 
in the world, down to beheading and hang- 
ing, so bad that somebody will not pursue 
it with satisfaction ; I have known people 
who were not contented till they had bor- 
rowed money of all Judea and Christen- 
dom, and if Axel had not gone quite so far, 
he was ready enough to improve favora- 
ble circumstances ; he added a new debt, 
to-day, to those he already owed David, 
that he might pay for the new furnishing 
of his house, “ in order not to have to do 
with so many people, but with one ; ’’but 
he probably did not reflect that this one 
was worse than a thousand others. 

Meanwhile Habermann and the young 
Frau were going through the fields. The 
clear summer morning soon drove away 
the little shadows of annoyance from her 
fresh face, and her bright eyes looked at 
everything with hearty interest, and desire 
to inform herself, and Habermann saw, 
with great pleasure, that she understood 
the business. She had been brought up in 
the country, and it was natural to her to 
observe things that lay a little out of her 


usual way, and that not superficially, she 
must know a reason for everything. Thus 
she knew enough about farming to feel 
quite at home here, although her father’s 
place was a great sand-hill, and Pumpel- 
hagen was the finest wheat soil, and if she 
saw anything unfamiliar which she did not 
understand, the old Inspector helped her, 
with brief, simple explanations. The walk 
was, for both of them, a real pleasure, and 
from a pure, mutual pleasure grows the 
fair blossom, Confidence. 

They came to tli£ Gurlitz boundary, and 
Habermann showed her the Pastor’s field, 
and told her how the late Kammerrath had 
taken it in lease. 

“ And the barley, over yonder ? ” asked 
the young Frau. 

“ That is Gurlitz ground and soil ; that 
belongs to Herr Pomuchelskopp.” 

“ Ah, that is the proprietor who greeted 
us yesterday, with his family,” said Frida. 

“ What sort of a man is he V ” 

“ I have no intercourse with him,” said 
Habermann, a little embarrassed. 

“But you know him, don’t you?” asked 
the young lady. 

“Yes — no — that is, I used to know him, 
but since he has lived here, we have noth- 
ing to do with each other,” said the old 
man, and would have spoken of something 
else ; but Frida laid her hand on his arm, 
and said, — 

“ Herr Inspector, I am a stranger in this 
region, — Axel seems to be acquainted, 
though only superficially, with this man ; 
are they suitable associates for us ? ” 

“ No,” said Habermann, short and hard. 

They walked on, each occupied in 
thought. The young Frau stood still, and 
asked, “ Can you, and will you, tell me the 
reason why you have broken off inter- 
course with this man ? ” 

Habermann looked at her thoughtfully. 

“ Yes,” said he, finally, rather as if he were 
speaking to himself, “and if you receive 
my words with the same confidence that 
the blessed Kammerrath did, it may be for 
your profit,” and he told her his story, 
without heat or anger, but also without 
restraint. The young Frau listened atten- 
tively, without interrupting him, and when 
he had finished said merely : 

“ I half disliked those people yesterday ; 

I quite dislike them to-day.” 

They had just come through the Pastor’s 
field, up to the garden fence, when a clear, 
joyous voice sounded from the other side : 

“ Good morning, father ! Good morn- 
ing!” and the lovely young girl, whom 
Frida had seen yesterday, came running 
through the garden gate -towards the old 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


inspector. Slie stopped suddenly as she 
saw the gracious lady, and stood blushing, 
so that Habermann must help himself to 
his good-morning kiss, if he meant to have 
it at all. 

Full of happiness and pride, the old man 
introduced his dear daughter ; the young 
Frau spoke to her very kindly, and urged 
her to come often to Pumpelhagen, to visit 
her father and herself; and when Haber- 
mann had sent greetings to the Pastor and 
the Pastorin, she took leave, and they con- 
tinued their walk. 

“ The Pastor and his wife must be very 
good people ? ” said Frida. 

“ Gracious lady,” said Habermann, “ you 
ask this question of no impartial man. 
These people have saved for me all that 
was left out of my misfortunes ; they have 
given loving protection and nurture to my 
only child, and taught her everything 
good ; I can only think of them with the 
highest respect and the deepest gratitude. 
But ask in the neighborhood, if you will ; 
rich and poor, high and low, will speak of 
them with respect and affection.” 

“ Herr Pomuchelskopp, too ? ” inquired 
the gracious lady. 

“ If he would speak honestly, and with- 
out prejudice, yes,” said the old man, “but 
as he is now — he quarrelled with the 
Pastor, soon after his arrival here, about 
this very field, in which we are walking. It 
was not the Pastor’s fault ; I gave the first 
provocation to his anger, because I advised 
the blessed Herr to rent the field. And, 
gracious lady,” he added, after a moment, 
“ Pumpelhagen cannot spare tlfis field ; 
the advantage is too great for us to give it 
up.” 

Frida asked him to explain it more fully, 
and, when she understood the matter, it 
was easy to see that she said to herself, 
she would do what she could to keep the 
field. 

As they came into the Pumpelhagen 
court-yard Slusuhr the notary and David 
were just starting off, and Axel stood be- 
fore the door taking leave of them as po- 
litely as if Slusuhr were the colonel of his 
regiment, and David a young count. 

“ Who is that ? ” asked Frida of Haber- 
mann. He told her. Then she greeted 
her husband, and asked, “ But, Axel, what 
business have you with these people, and 
why are you so uncommonly polite to 
them ? ” 

“ Polite ? ” repeated Axel, “ why not ? I 
am polite to everybody,” with a quick 
glance at Habermann, who met it quietly 
and firmly. 


103 

I “Of course you are,” said his wife, taking 
his arm, in order to go into the house with 
him, “ but towards a common Jew money- 
lender and ■” 

“ Dear child,” interrupted Axel hastily, 
to prevent her saying more, “ the man is a 
produce-dealer, and wool-merchant, I shall 
often have business to transact with 
him.” 

“ And the other ? ” she inquired. 

“ Oh, he — he only came along with him 
accidentally. I have nothing to do with 
him.”.. 

“ Adieu, Herr Inspector,” said Frida, giv- 
ing her hand to the old man, “ I thank you 
very much for your friendly company.” 

With that, she went into the house. 
Axel followed her ; at the door he looked 
round, the old inspector’s eyes rested sadly 
upon him, and he turned away. He fol- 
lowed his wife into the house. 

In this honest and mournful glance lay 
the whole future of the three persons who 
had just separated. 

Axel had lied ; he had betrayed, for the 
first time, the confidence of his young 
wife, and Habermann knew it, and Axel 
knew that Habermann knew it. Here was 
a stone in the path, over which every one 
must stumble who passed that way, for the 
path was darkened by falsehood and dis- 
simulation, and no one could speak to an- 
other of the stone, and warn him against 
it. Frida went onward innocently and 
trustfully ; but how long would it be be- 
fore she would stumble over this stone ? 
Axel tried to deceive himself, also, he 
thought he could bring her safely over it, 
in the darkness, without her being aware 
of it, and, beyond, the path would be 
smooth. Habermann saw the danger 
clearly, and could and would have helped ; 
but if he stretched out his hand to point it 
out, and warn them against it, Axel re- 
pulsed him with coldness, and secret re- 
sentment. People say that a bad man will, 
in time, conceive a hatred for one who has 
bestowed benefits upon him ; it is possible, 
but that is nothing to the secret gnawing 
and boring of resentment, which a weak 
man feels towards one who is the only per- 
son in the world conscious of his falsehood. 
Such a feeling is not developed at once, 
like downright hatred, born of open strife 
and contention, but bores slowly and grad- 
ually into the heart, like the death-worm 
into dry wood, and eats deeper and deeper, 
till the whole heart is full of ill-will and 
bitterness, as the wood is full of worm- 
dust. 


104 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

Brasig went next morning, as he had 
designed, to Rexow, to see Frau Niissler. 
The crown-prince came to meet him at the 
door, wagging his tail in such a Christian 
manner that one must believe him to be a 
dog of good moral principle, since he bore 
no malice against Brasig for his late chas- 
ing and drubbing. One would infer, also, 
from the quiet content expressed in his 
yellow-brown eyes, that all was well at 
Rexow, Frau Niissler in the kitchen, and 
Jochen sitting in his arm-chair. 

But it was not so, for when Brasig 
opened the door, Jochen was sitting indeed 
in his old place ; but Frau Niissler stood 
before him, delivering a brief but impres- 
sive discourse to the effect that he 
troubled himself about nothing, and said 
not a word to the purpose, and when she 
caught sight of Brasig, she went up to him, 
quite angrily, saying, “ And you, too, no- 
tice nothing, Brasig; for all you care, 
everything here may stand on its head; 
and it is your fault, too, we never should 
have taken those two but for you ! ” 

“ Fair and easy I ” said Brasig, “ fair and 
easy I Not quite so fast, Frau Niissler ! 
What has happened now with the young 
candidates ? ” 

“ A good deal has happened, and I have 
said nothing about it, because they were 
Jochen’s friends, and it is a bad bird that 
fouls its own nest ; but since the time those 
two fellows came into my house, there has 
been no peace nor rest, and if it goes on 
so much longer, I shall quarrel, at last, 
with Jochen himself.” 

“Mother,” said young Jochen, “what 
shall I do about it ? ” 

“ Keep still, young Jochen,” cried Bra- 
sig, “ you are to blame. Can’t you rouse 
up and teach them manners ? ” 

“Let Jochen alone, Brasig,” said Frau 
Niissler, hastily, “ this time it is your fault. 
You promised to have an eye to these 
young men, and see that they did not get 
into mischief, and instead of that, you have 
let one go on as he liked, without troubling 
yourself about him, and you have put the 
other up to all sorts of nonsense, so that 
instead of minding his books, he goes off 
with his fishing-pole, and brings me home 
at night a great string of perch, as long as 
your finger. And when I think I have 
everything tidy, I must go and dress the 
horrid things, and make it all straight 
again. v 

“What? Brings home things a finger 
long, and I showed him the right place to 


catch the great fellows! eh, you must — 
no, hold on ! ” 

“ Ah, what ! ” cried Frau Niissler. “ You 
should forbid his fishing altogether, he 
did not come here for that purpose. He 
was to learn something, his father said, 
and he is coming here to-day, too.” 

“ Well, Frau Niissler,” said Brasig, “ I 
am very greatly annoyed that he should 
do so little credit to my instructions, in 
his fishing. Has he done anything else 
amiss ? ” 

“ Ah, yes, indeed ! both of them have. 
But, as I said before, I have said nothing 
about it, because they were Jochen’s 
friends, and at first, it seemed as if every- 
thing would go on well. At first, there 
were merry, lively times here, and my 
little girls enjoyed it uncommonly ; it was 
Mining here and Rudolph there, and 
Lining here and Gottlieb there, and they 
talked with Gottlieb, and romped with 
Rudolph, and the two old fellows were 
very industrious at their work, and 
Gottlieb sat up stair3 in his room, and 
studied until his head swam, and Rudolph, 
too, read in his books ; but it was not 
long before they got to disputing and 
quarrelling about ecclesiastical matters, 
and Gottlieb, who is much more learned 
than the other, told him he did not look 
at things from a Christian standpoint.” 

“ Standpoint, did he say ? ” asked Bra- 
sig. 

“ Yes, he said standpoint,” replied Frau 
Niissler. 

“ Ho, ho ! ” cried Brasig, “ I can hear 
him talk. Where other people stop, at a 
standpoint, is only the beginning with the 
Pietists. He wanted to proselyte him.” 

“Yes,” said Frau Niissler, “so it ap- 
peared. Now the other one is much 
cleverer than Gottlieb, and he began to 
crack all manner of jokes at him, and got 
the better of him, and so the strife grew 
worse and worse, and, I don’t know how it 
happened, but my little girls began to 
take a part in the business, and Lining, as 
the most intelligent, was on Gottlieb’s 
side, and talked just as he did, and 
Mining laughed over Rudolph’s jokes, and 
carried on with him.” 

“ Yes,” interrupted Jochen, “ it is all as 
true as leather.” 

“ You should be ashamed of yourself, 
young Jochen, to allow such doings in 
your house ! ” 

“ Come, Brasig,” said Frau Niissler, “let 
him alone ; Jochen has done everything he 
could to keep peace ; when Gottlieb talked 
about the devil, to frighten one out of his 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


wits, then lie believed in the devil, and 
when Rudolph laughed about the devil, 
and made fun of him, then he laughed with 
Rudolph. But, when the dispute was at 
the highest, little Mining happened on a 
bright idea; she took their books and 
changed them, and put Rudolph’s into 
Gottlieb’s room, and Gottlieb’s into Ru- 
dolph’s, and when they looked at her in 
astonishment, she said, merrily, they had 
better exchange studies for awhile, and 
they might possibly learn to agree. Well, 
at first they would hear nothing of it ; but 
Gottlieb is always a good-natured old 
fellow, he soon began to read, and since it 
was a winter day, and he could not amuse 
himself out of doors, Rudolph finally began 
also. And then you should have seen 
them ! It was not long, before it seemed 
as if they had been exchanged with their 
books. Gottlieb made bad jokes, and 
laughed about the devil, and the other old 
fellow groaned and sighed, and talked of 
the devil, as if he sat at table with us 
every day, and eat his potatoes, like other 
honest people. Now, my little girls were 
quite perplexed ; Mining attached herself 
to Gottlieb, and Lining to Rudolph, for 
now it was Rudolph who said Gottlieb did 
not occupy a Christian standpoint.” 

“ Fie ! ” said Brasig, “ he should not have 
said that. And such a fellow as that cannot 
catch a good-sized perch ! ” 

“Yes,” cried Frau Niissler quite angrily, 
“and with your confounded old perch- 
fishing, the whole trouble came again, for 
when it was spring, and the perch began 
to bite, Rudolph threw his Christian 
standpoint aside, and took up his fishing- 

rod, and ran off into the fields, and Gott- 
lieb took up the devil again, for he was 
going to pass his examination, and there 
is no getting through that without the 
devil. And my two little girls were puz- 
zled to tell which they should stand by.” 

“ They are a pair of confounded rascals,” 
cried Brasig, “but the proselyter is to 
blame for it all ; why couldn’t he let the 
other alone, with his devil and his stand- 
point ? ” 

“ Well, never mind ! He studied well 
at any rate and passed his examination 
all right, and can be a minister any day ; 
but the other cousin has done nothing at 
all at his books, and has made us all this 
dreadful trouble ! ” 

“ Why, what else has he done ? He 
hasn’t been catching whitings ? ” 

“ Whitings ! He caught a sermon. You 

see, the Rector Baldrian’s wife wanted to 
hear her Gottlieb preach, and she asked 
the pastor in Rahnstadt about it, and he 


105 

promised her Gottlieb should preach last 
Sunday, and she told her sister, Frau 
Kurz. She is naturally very much an- 
noyed that her boy is not so advanced as 
Gottlieb, and she goes to the pastor also, 
and the old pastor is such a sheep that he 
promised her Rudolph should preach the 
same Sabbath. Then they drew lots, who 
should preach in the morning, and who in 
the afternoon, and Rudolph got the morn- 
ing. Well, old Gottlieb studied as hard as 
he could, and sat from morning till night, 
out in the arbor, in the garden, and be- 
cause he has a bad memory, he studied 
aloud, and the other went roving about as 
usual; but the last two days, he seated 
himself on the grassy bank behind the 
arbor, as if he were making a sermon too. 
And then Sunday came, and Jochen let 
them ride in to town, and we all rode, and 
were seated in the pastor’s pew, and, I 
tell you, I was terribly afraid for Rudolph ; 
but he stood there, as if there were noth- 
ing the matter, and when it was time, he 
went up into the pulpit, and preached a 
sermon, that made all the people open 
their eyes and mouths, and I rejoiced over 
the youth, and was going to say so to 
Gottlieb, who sat by me ; but there sat 
the poor creature, fidgeting with his hands 
and feet, as if he would like to go up and 
pull the other out of the pulpit, and he 
said, “ Aunt, that is my sermon ! ” And 
so it was, Brasig ; the wicked boy had 
learned the sermon by hearing it, because 
Gottlieb must study it aloud.” 

“ Ha, ha ! ” laughed Brasig heartily, 
“ that is a good joke 1 ” 

“ Do you call that a joke . ? ” exclaimed 
Frau Niissler, greatly excited. “ Such a 
trick as that in the house of God, you call 
a joke ? ” 

“ Eh, now,” said Brasig, still laughing, 
“ what would you have ? It is a devil of a 
joke, it is an infamous trick, to be sure ; 
but I can’t help laughing, for the life of 
me.” 

“ Oh yes ! ” said Frau Niissler, bitterly, 
“ that is the way with you ; when we 
others are ready to die with shame and 
anger, you stand by and laugh ! ” 

*• There, don’t scold me, ” said Brasig, 
trying to appease her, “ tell me what the 
proselyter did. I wish I could have seen 
him ! ” 

“ What could he do ? He couldn’t 
preach the same sermon over again, in the 
afternoon ; the old pastor had to warm up 
an old sermon for the occasion, but he was 
fearfully angry, and said, if he should 
report the matter, Rudolph might as well 
hang up his gown on the nearest willow.” 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


106 


“ Well, and the proselyter ? ” 

“ Ah, the good old creature was so con- 
founded, he said nothing at all; but his 
mother talked all the more, and quarrelled 
so fiercely with her sister, Frau Kurz, 
that they have not spoken to each other 
since. Oh, what a time it was ! I was 
ashamed, and I was provoked, for Kurz 
and the rector came up, too, and Jochen 
was lingering with them, but fortunately 
our carriage drove up, and I got him 
away.” 

“ But what did the duel-fighter say ? ” 

“ Oh, the rogue was clever enough to 
keep out of the uproar, he made himself 
scarce after his fine sermon, and ran off 
home.” 

“He got a proper good lecture from 
you, I will wager.” 

“No,” said Frau Nussler, “he didn’t. 
I don’t meddle in the affair. His father is 
coming, to-day, and he is the nearest to 
him, as the Frau Pastorin says. And I 
told Jochen, decidedly, he ought not to 
talk so much about it, for he has quite 
changed his nature, of late, and is always 
troubling himself, and talking about things 
that are none of his business. Keep still, 
Jochen ! ” 

“ Yes, Jochen, keep still ! ” 

“ And my two little girls, I scarcely 
know them again ; after the sermon, they 
cried all the way home, and now they keep 
out of the way so shyly, and speak so, 
short to each other, and they used always 
to go about together arm in arm, and if 
one had anything on her heart the other 
quickly knew it. Ah, my house is all 
topsy-turvy ! ” 

“Mother,” said young Jochen, rising 
suddenly from his chair, “ it is what I have 
said before, but I will say it once more ; 
you shall see, the boys have put something 
into ' their heads.” 

“ What should they put into their 
heads, Jochen? ” said Frau Nussler, rather 
sharply. 

“ Love-affairs,” said Jochen, sitting down 
again in his corner. “ My blessed mother 
always said : A candidate and a governess 
in the same house — you shall see, Gottlieb 
and Mining. 

“Now, Jochen, so you talk and talk! 
The Lord keep you in your senses 1 If I . 
thought that was the case, the candidate 
should be turned out of the house, and ! 
the other after him. Come out here, Bra- * 
sig, I have something to say to you.” 

When they were outside, Frau Nussler 
took him to the garden, and sat down with 
him in the arbor. 

“ Brasig,” said she, “ I cannot listen to 


this everlasting chatter of Jochen’s; ha 
has got it from Rudolph, who used to talk 
with him so much, last winter, in the even- 
ings, and now he has got in the habit of it, 
and cannot break off. Now tell me hon- 
estly, — you promised that you would look 
after them, — have you ever had any idea 
of such a thing ? ” 

“ Eh, preserve us ! ” said Brasig, “ not 
the remotest conception ! ” 

“I cannot believe it is so,” said Frau 
Niissler, thoughtfully ; “ at first, Lining 
and Gottlieb were always together, and 
Mining and Rudolph, — afterwards, Min- 
ing held to Gottlieb, and Lining to Ru- 
dolph, and after the examination, Lining 
went back to Gottlieb again ; but Mining 
and Rudolph are not friends, for since the 
sermon she will scarcely look at him.” 

“Frau Nussler,” said Brasig, “love is a 
thing which begins in some hidden way, 
perhaps with a bunch of flowers, or a 
couple say “ Good morning ” to each other, 
and touch each other’s hands, or they 
stoop, at the same time, to pick up a ball 
of cotton, and knock their heads together, 
and a looker-on observes nothing more, 
but after a while, it becomes more per- 
ceptible, the women often turn red, and 
the men cast sheep’s-eyes, or the women 
entice the men into the pantry, and offer 
them sausage and tongue and pig’s head, 
and the men come to see the women, 
dressed up in red and blue neck-ties, or, if 
it is very far gone, they go out walking on 
summer evenings, in the moonlight, and 
sigh. Anything of that sort with the little 
rogues ? ” 

“ I cannot say, Brasig. They have been 
in my pantry, off and on ; but I soon sent 
them out, for I won’t have people eating in 
the pantry, and I never noticed that my 
little girls turned red, though they have 
cried their eyes red, often enough, of 
late.” 

“ Hm ! ” said Brasig, “ this last is not 
without significance. Now I will tell you, 
Frau Nussler, leave it wholly to me, I 
know how to track them; I detected 
Habermann’s confounded greyhound, in 
his love-affairs. I am an old hunter ; I can 
track him to his lair ; but you must tell 
me where they have their haunts ; that is, 
where I shall be likely to find them.” 

“ That is here, Brasig, here in this arbor. 
My little girls sit here in the afternoon, 
and sew, and the other two come and sit 
with them ; I never thought any harm of 
it.” 

“No harm in that,” said Brasig, and 
stepping out of the arbor he looked care- 
fully around, and in so doing perceived a 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


107 


large Rhenish cherry-tree, full of leaves, 
which stood close by the arbor. 

“ All right 1 ” said he, “ what can be 
done shall be done.” 

“ Dear heart ! ” sighed Frau Nussler, as 
they went back to the house, “ what a mis- 
erable time we shall have to-day I Kurz 
is coming this afternoon, in time for coffee, 
and he is bitterly angry with his son, and 
such a malicious little toad. You shall 
see, there will be a great uproar.” 

“ It is always the way with little people,” 
said Brasig ; “ the head, and the lower con- 
stitution are so close together, that fire 
kindles quickly.” 

“ Yes,” sighed Frau Nussler, again enter- 
ing the house, “ it is a misery.” She had 
no idea that the misery in her house was 
already in full course. 

While these transactions were going on 
below stairs the two little twin-apples 
sat up in their chamber, sewing. Lining 
sat by one window, and Mining by the 
other, and they never looked up from their 
work, they never spoke to each other, as 
in those old times, at the Frau Pastorin’s 
sewing-school, — they sewed and sewed, as 
if the world were coming to pieces, and 
they, with needle and thread, were patch- 
ing it together again, and they looked so 
solemn about it, and sighed so heavily, as 
if they knew right well what an arduous 
task they had under their fingers. It was 
strange that their mother had said noth- 
ing to Brasig of how their pretty, red 
cheeks had grown pale, and it must have 
been because she had not noticed it her- 
self. But it was so, the two little apples 
looked as wan as if they had grown on the 
north side of the life-tree, where no sun- 
beams pierced to color their cheeks, and 
it seemed, too, as if they hung no longer 
on the same twig. At last Lining let her 
work drop in her lap, she could not sew 
any longer, her eyes filled, and the tears 
ran down her white cheeks ; and Mining 
reached for her handkerchief, and held it 
to her eyes, and great tears dropped in her 
lap, and so they sat and wept, as if the fair, 
innocent world in their own bosoms had 
gone to pieces, and they could not patch it 
together again. 

All at once Mining sprang up and ran 
out of the door, as if she must get into the 
free air ; but she bethought herself, she 
could not run off without being seen and 
questioned by her mother, so she stood 
there, on the other side of the door, still 
crying. Lining sprang up also, as if she 
would comfort Mining, but she bethought 
herself that she did not know how, so she 
stood on this side the door, crying. 


So is often interposed, between two 
hearts, a thin board, and each heart hears 
the other sighing and weeping, and the 
thin board has on each side a latch, that 
one needs merely to lift, and what has sep- 
arated the hearts may be shoved aside ; 
but neither will stir the latch, and the two 
hearts weep still. 

But, thank God ! such selfish pride 
towards each other these little hearts had 
not yet learned, and Mining opened the 
door, and said, “ Lining, why are you cry- 
ing ? ” and Lining reached out her hands, 
and said, “ Ah, Mining, why are you cry- 
ing ? ” And they fell into each others 
arms, still crying, but their cheeks grew 
red as if the sunlight had reached them, 
and they clung fast to each other, as if 
they were again growing on the same 
stem. 

“ Mining ! ” said Lining, “ I will give 
him up to you, and you shall be happy 
with him.” 

“ No, Lining ! ” cried Mining, “ he cares 
more for you, and you are a great deal 
better than I am.” 

“ No, Mining, I have made up my mind ; 
uncle Kurz is coming this afternoon, and 
I will ask father and mother to let me go 
back with him, for to stay here and look 
on might be too hard for me.” 

“ Do so, Lining ; then you will be with 
his parents ; and I will ask Gottlieb to get 
me, through his father, a place as governess, 
somewhere, far, far away, before you come 
back; for my heart is too heavy to stay 
here.” 

“Mining,” said Lining, pushing her 
sister back, and looking earnestly in her 
eyes, — “ with his parents ? whom do you 
mean ? ” 

“ Why, Rudolph.” 

“ You mean Rudolph ? ” 

“Yes, of course; whom do you mean, 
then?” 

“ I ? I meant Gottlieb.” 

“No, no!” cried Mining, throwing her 
arms again about her sister’s neck, “ how 
is that possible? Why, we don’t mean 
the same one, after all ! ” 

“ Dear heart ! ” exclaimed Lining, “ and 
what misery we have made ourselves ! ” 

“ And now it is all right ! ” cried Min- 
ing, dancing about the room, “it is all 
right now ! ” 

“ Yes, Mining, it is all right now,” and 
Lining also danced about the room. And 
Mining fell upon her sister’s neck again, 
this time in joy. 

Yes, when one touches the latch, in time, 
and shoves back the separating wall, then 
the hearts come together again, and all is 


108 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


right, even if there is not such a rejoicing 
as here in the little chamber. First they 
wept, and then they danced about the 
room, then they sat down one in the 
other’s lap, and talked it all over, and 
blamed themselves for stupidity, that they 
had not noticed how it stood with them, 
and wondered how it was possible that 
they should not have come to an explana- 
tion before, and then each confessed how 
far she had gone with her cousin, and that 
the young men had not yet spoken openly, 
and they were both half inclined to scold 
them, as the cause of all the trouble. And 
Lining said she had been, all along, in 
great doubt ; but since last Sunday, she 
had been convinced that Mining cared for 
Gottlieb, for otherwise why should she 
have cried so ? and Mining said she could 
not help crying, because Rudolph had 
done such a dreadful thing, and she sup- 
posed Lining was crying for the same rea- 
son. And Lining said that what troubled 
her was because her poor Gottlieb was 
served so. But it was all right now ; and 
when the dinner-bell rang, the little twin- 
apples tumbled down stairs, rosy-red, and 
arm in arm, and Brasig, who had seated 
himself with his back to the light that he 
might judge the better of their appear- 
ance, stared in astonishment at their 
bright eyes and joyous faces, aud said to 
himself : “ How ? They are shy ? They 
are in trouble ? They are in love ? They 
look just ready for a frolic.” 

Upon the ringing of the dinner-bell, 
s entered Briisig’s proselyter, the candidate 
Gottlieb Baldrian. Lining grew red, and 
turned away, not in ill humor, but on ac- 
count of the confession she had made up- 
stairs, and Brasig said to himself, “ This 
strikes me as a very curious thing ; Lining 
is affected. How can it be possible ? and 
he such a scarecrow 1 ” 

Brasig had expressed himself too 
strongly, but Gottlieb was no beauty. 
Nature had dealt niggardly with him, and 
the little that he had he did not use to 
advantage. Take his hair, for instance. 
He had a thick head of hair, and if it had 
been properly kept under by the shears, it 
would have been good, respectable light 
hair, and he might have gone about, with- 
out attracting any attention ; but he had, 
in his clerical heart, set up for his model, 
St. John the beloved, and he parted his 
hair in the middle, and combed it down on 
each side, though its natural tendency was 
to stand upright. Eh, well, I have noth- 
ing to say against it if a little rogue of ten 
or twelve years runs around with curls 
about his head, and the mothers of the 


little rogues have still less to say against 
it, and they turn them about, a nd stroke 
the hair out of their eyes, and comb it 
smooth, too, when a visitor is coming, — 
silly people sometimes go so far as to put 
it up in curl-papers, and use hot irons; 
I should have nothing to say, if it were the 
fashion for old people to curl their hair in 
long curls, for the old pictures look very 
fine so ; but he who has no calves ought 
not to wear tight trowsers, and if a man’s 
hair does not curl, he does better to keep 
it short. Our old Gottlieb’s incongruous 
wig hung down, tinned by the sun, as 
if he had tied in a lot of rusty lath-nails, 
and because he had to oil it very liberally 
to keep it in its place, it ruined his coat- 
collar, — farther, it did not reach. Under 
this rich gift of nature, looked out an in- 
significant, pale face, which usually wore a 
melancholy expression, so that Brasig was 
always asking him what shoemaker he 
employed, and whether his corns troubled 
him. The rest of his figure harmonized 
with this expression, he was long, and thin 
and angular ; but the part devoted to the 
enjoyment of the good things of this world 
seemed quite wanting, and the place 
which this necessary and useful organ gen- 
erally occupies was a great cavity, like 
Frau Niissler’s baking-tray, seen from the 
inside. He was really a natural curiosity 
for Brasig, who ate like a barn-thresher, 
and couldn’t help it. One would almost 
have believed that the Pietist was nour- 
ished in some other way than by eating 
and drinking. I have known people, and 
know some people still, whom I never could 
rival in this respect. It is true these can- 
didates are often very thin, as one may 
see by the best of the Hanover candi- 
dates, who are so plenty among us ; but 
when one gets a fat parish, he often begins 
to fill out, and so Brasig did not give up the 
hope that Gottlieb might come to some- 
thing, in time, though he puzzled his brains 
over him a great deal. This was the way 
Gottlieb Baldrian looked; but the pic- 
ture would not be complete, if I did not 
say that over the whole was spread a little, 
little smirk of Pharisaism ; it was a very 
little, but that Pharisee stuff is like a calf’s 
stomach; with a little, little bit one can 
turn a whole pan of milk sour. 

They sat down to dinner, and Jochen 
asked, — 

“ Where is Rudolph ? ” 

“ Good gracious, Jochen, what are you 
talking about?” said Frau Niissler has- 
tily, “ you ought to know by this time, 
that he never in his life was in season. 
He has gone fishing ; but if people won't 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


109 


come in time, they may go without their 
dinner.” 

The meal was a quiet one, for Brasig 
did not talk, he lay in wait, with all his 
senses and faculties, and Frau Niissler 
wondered in silence what could have so 
changed her little girls. They sat there 
laughing and whispering lightly to each 
other, and looking so happy, as if they 
were just awaked from a bad dream, and 
were rejoicing that it, wasn’t true, and 
that the sun shone brightly once more. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

When dinner was over, Mining, whose 
turn it was to help her mother, in clearing 
up, tidying the room and making coffee, 
asked her sister, “ Lining, where are you 
going ? ” 

“I am going to get my sewing,” said 
Lining, “ and sit in the arbor.” 

“ Well, I will come soon,” said Mining. 

“And I will come too,” said Gottlieb 
slowly, “ I have a book that I must finish 
reading to-day.” 

“ That is right,” said Brasig, “ that will 
be a devilish fine entertainment for 
Lining.” 

Gottlieb wanted to preach him a little 
sermon upon his misuse of the word dev- 
ilish, but restrained himself, since he re- 
flected that it would be thrown away upon 
Brasig; so he said nothing, but followed 
the girls out of the room. 

“ Good heavens ! ” exclaimed Frau 
Niissler, “what has happened to my chil- 
dren ? I don’t know what to make of it ; 
they are one heart and one soul again.” 

“Keep quiet, Frau Niissler,” said Br'a- 
sig, “ I will find out all about it, to-day. 
Jochen, come out with me ; but don’t go 
to talking ! ” 

Jochen followed him into the garden. 
Brasig took him under the arm. “ Keep 
quite still, Jochen, and don’t look round, 
and act as if we were taking a walk after 
dinner.” 

Jochen did so, very skilfully. 

When they came to the cherry-tree be- 
fore the arbor, Brasig stopped. 

“ So, Jochen, now stoop over, — with 
your head against the tree.” 

Jochen would have spoken, but Brasig 
pushed down his head. 

“Keep still, Jochen, — put your head 
against the tree ! ” and with that he clam- 
bered up on Jochen ’s back. “ So ! now 
stand up ! Sure enough, I can just reach,” 
— and he caught the lowest boughs, and j 
ulled himself up into the tree. Jochen 
ad said nothing as yet, but now he ! 
broke out : 1 


“Brasig, they are not ripe yet.” 

“ Blockhead ! ” cried Brasig, looking, 
with his red face among the green leaves. 
■ like a gay basket hung on the branches, 
“ do you think I expect to pick Rhenish 
cherries on St. John’s day ? But you must 
go away now, and not stand there looking 
at me, like a dog that has treed a cat.” 

“ Yes, what shall I do about it ? ” said 
Jochen, and left Brasig to his destiny. 

Brasig had not long to watch, before he 
heard a light, quick step on the gravel- 
walk, and Lining seated herself in the arbor, 
with a great heap of needle-work. If she 
meant to do all that to-day, she should 
have begun immediately ; but she laid it 
on the table, rested her head on her hand, 
and, looking out into the blue heaven 
through Brasig’s cherry-tree, sat in deep 
thought. “ Ah, how happy I am ! ” said the 
little, thankful soul, “ my Mining is good 
to me again, and Gottlieb is good to me, 
else why did he keep touching my foot at 
dinner ? and how Brasig looked at me 1 I 
believe I turned quite red. Ah, what a 
good old fellow Gottlieb is ! How seri- 
ously and learnedly he talks, how steady 
he is, the minister is clearly written on his 
face ! He is not handsome, to be sure, Ru- 
dolph is much better looking, but he has 
something peculiar about him, as if he 
were ever saying, don’t come near me with 
your pitiable, lamentable nonsense, I have 
higher thoughts, I am spiritually minded. 
But I will cut his hair for him, by and 
by.” 

It is a merciful providence that the little 
maidens are not all taken with a fine exte- 
rior, else we ugly fellows would be obliged 
to remain bachelors, and it would be a 
sad company, for what can be uglier than 
an ugly old bachelor ? 

In Lining’s closing reflection — that she 
would cut Gottlieb’s hair shorter — was 
implied such a confident hope, that she 
blushed to think of it, and, as she heard 
the gravel creak under slow, dignified steps, 
she seized her needle-work and begun to 
sew diligently. 

Gottlieb came with his book, and seated 
himself about three feet from her, and be- 
gan to read, but often looked off from 
his book as if he were turning over in his 
mind what he had just read, or perhaps 
something else. It is always so with the 
Pietist candidates, that is, when they have 
found their right calling, and sincerely be- 
| lieve what they preach to the people ; be- 
' fore their examination they have none but 
1 spiritual thoughts, but after their examin- 
1 ation worldly matters claim their share of 
• attention, and instead of thinking of a 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


110 

parish they think first of a marriage. It 
was so with Gottlieb, and because, since 
his examination, no other girls had come 
in his way but Lining and Mining, and 
Lining had paid much closer attention to 
his admonitions than her light-hearted sis- 
ter, he had happened upon the worldly 
thought of making her a pastor’s wife. 
He was not very expert at the business, 
labouring, indeed, under great embarras- 
ment, and had as yet gone no further than 
treading on her feet, a proceeding which 
he was quite as bashful in attempting, as 
Lining in receiving. He had decided, 
however, to open the matter in proper 
style, so he said, “Lining, I have brought 
this book out really on your account. 
Will you listen to some of it ?” 

“ Yes,” said Lining. 

“ It will be a tedious story,” said Brasig 
to himself. He did not lie on a bed of 
roses, up in the cherry-tree. 

Gottlieb read an edifying discourse upon 
Christian marriage, how it should be 
thought of, and with what feelings entered 
into, and when he had finished, he moved a 
step nearer, and asked : 

“ What do you say to it, Lining ? 

“ It is certainly very beautiful,” said she. 

“ Marriage ? ” asked Gottlieb. 

“ Oh, Gottlieb ! ” said Lining, and bent 
lower over her needlework. 

“ No, Lining, said Gottlieb, “ moving up 
another step, “it is not beautiful. God 
bless you for it, that you have not placed 
a light estimate upon this important act 
of human life. It is terribly hard, that is 
in a Christian sense,” and he gave her a 
fearful description of the heavy duties and 
troubles and cares of married life, as if he 
were preparing her for a residence at the 
House of Correction, while Brasig, up in 
the cherry-tree, crossed himself, and 
thanked his stars that he had not entered 
on that sad estate. “Yes, Lining,” said 
he, “ marriage is a part of the curse, with 
which God drove our first parents out of 
Paradise,” and he took his Bible, and read 
to the little girl the third chapter of the 
first book of Moses, till Lining trembled 
all over, and did not know where to go, 
for shame and distress. 

“Infamous Jesuit 1” exclaimed Brasig 
half aloud, “ to distress the innocent child 
like that 1 ” and he was almost ready to 
spring down from the tree, and Lining 
would almost have run away, only that the 
book out of which he was reading was the 
Bible, and what was in the Bible must be 
good ; she covered her face with her hands, 
and cried bitterly. He was now full of 
spiritual zeal, and threw his arm about 


her, saying, “I spare thee not, in this sol* 
emn hour 1 Caroline Niissler, wilt thou, 
under these Christian conditions, be my 
Christian wedded wife ? ” 

Ah, and Lining was in such a dreadful 
confusion, she could neither speak nor 
think, but only cry and cry. 

Then resounded along the garden path, 
a merry song : 

“ Little fish in silver brook, 

Swimming off. to a shady nook, 

Little gray fish 
Seeking a wife.” 

And Lining made a desperate effort, and 
started out of the arbor, spite of the Bible 
and Christian conditions, to meet Mining, 
who was coming out, with her sewing; 
and Gottlieb followed, with long, slow 
steps, and his face looked as wonder- 
stricken as that of the young preacher, 
when in the midst of his long sermon, the 
sexton laid the church-door key on the 
pulpit, saying that when he had finished 
he might lock up, himself, for he was go- 
ing to dinner. And he might well looked 
astonished, for, like the young preacher, 
he had done his best, and his church stood 
empty. 

Mining was a little, inexperienced child, 
being the youngest, but she was sufficiently 
acute to perceive that something had hap- 
pened, and to ask herself whether she 
would not cry under similar circumstances, 
and what sort of comfort would be neces- 
sary. She seated herself quietly, in the 
arbor, arranged her needle-work, and, re- 
flecting upon her own unsettled circum- 
stances, began to sigh a little, for want of 
anything else in particular to do. 

“ Preserve me I ” said Brasig, in the 
tree, “now the little rogue has come, and 
my legs are perfectly numb, and the busi- 
ness is getting tedious.’” 

But the business was not to be tedious 
long, for soon after Mining had seated her- 
self, there appeared around the corner of 
the arbor a handsome, young fellow, with 
a fishing-rod over his shoulder, and a 
basket of fish suspended around his neck. 

“ This is good, Mining,” cried he, “ that 
I find you here. Of course you have had 
dinner long ago ?” 

“ You may well think so, Rudolph,” she 
replied, “ it is just two o’clock.” 

“ Aunt will certainly be very angry with 
me.” 

“You may be sure of that, she is so 
already, without your being late to dinner ; 
but your own stomach will be the worst to 
you, for you have cared for it poorly, to- 
day.” 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. Ill 


“ So much the better for yours, this 
evening. I could not come sooner, it was 
out of the question, with the fish biting so 
finely. I have been to the Black Pool to- 
day. Br'asig will never let me go there, 
and I understand the reason ; it is his pri- 
vate pantry when he cannot find fish else- 
where ; the whole pond is full of tench, 
just look! See there, what splendid fel- 
lows ! ” and he opened his basket, and 
showed his treasures. “ I have got ahead 
of old Briisig, this time ! ” 

“ Infamous rascal ! ” exclaimed Br'asig, 
to himself, and his nose peered out be- 
tween the leaves, like one of the pickled 
gherkins, which Frau Nussler was in the 
habit of putting up for the winter, in these 
same cherry-leaves. “ Infamous rascal ! 
he has been among my tench, then ! May 
you keep the nose on your face ! what fish 
the scamp has caught ! ” 

“ Give them to me, Rudolph,” said Min- 
ing. “ I will take them in, and bring you 
out something to eat.” 

“ Oh, no ! no ! Never mind.” 

“ But you must be hungry.” 

“Well, then, just a little something, 
Mining. A slice or two of bread and but- 
ter ! ” 

Mining went, and Rudolph seated him- 
self in the arbor. 

He had a sort of easy indifference, as if 
he would let things come to him, but yet, 
when they touched him nearly, he would 
not fail to grapple with them. His figure 
was slender, and yet robust, and with the 
roguery in his brown eyes was mingled 
a spark of obstinacy, with which the little 
scar on his brown cheek harmonized so 
well, that one could safely infer he had 
not spent all his time in the study of dog- 
matic theology. “ Yes,” said he, as he sat 
there, “ the fox must go to his own hole. 
I have beaten about the bush long enough ; 
to be sure there has been time to spare, 
there was no hurry about settling matters 
until now ; but, to-day, two things must be 
decided. To-day the old man is coming ; 
well for me that mother does not come too, 
else I might find myself wanting in cour- 
age, at last. I am as fit for a parson as a 
donkey to play on the guitar, or Gottlieb 
for a colonel of cuirassiers. If Brasig were 
only here, to-day, he would stand by me. 
But Mining ! If I could get that settled 
first.” 

Just then, Mining came along, with a 
plate of bread and butter. 

Rudolph sprang up : “ Mining, what a 
good little thing you are ! ” and he threw 
his arm around her. 

Mining pulled herself away ; “ Ah, let 


me be ! What a naughty boy you are \ 
Mother is dreadfully angry with you.” 

“ You mean on account of the sermon ? 
Well, yes ! It was a stupid trick.” 

“ No,” said Mining, earnestly, “ it was a 
wicked trick. It was making light of holy 
things.” 

“ Oh, ho ! Such candidates’ sermons are 
not such holy things, — even when they 
come from our pious Gottlieb.” 

“ But, Rudolph, in the church ! ” 

“ Ah, Mining, I acknowledge it was a 
stupid trick, I did not consider it before- 
hand ; I only thought of the sheepish face 
Gottlieb would make, and that amused me 
so that I did the foolish thing. But let it 
go, Mining ! ” and he threw his arm about 
her agam. 

“ No, let go ! ” said Mining, but did not 
push it away. “And the pastor said, if 
he should report the matter, you could 
never in your life get a parish.” 

“ Let him report it then ; I wish he 
would, and I should be out of the scrape 
once for all.” 

“ What ? ” asked Mining, making herself 
free, and pushing him back a little way, 
“ do you say that in earnest ? ” 

“ In solemn earnest. It was the first and 
last time I shall enter a pulpit.” 

“ Rudolph ! ” exclaimed Mining, in aston- 
ishment. 

“ Why should that trouble you ? ” cried 
Rudolph, hastily. “ Look at Gottlieb, look 
at me ! Am I fit for a pastor ? And if I 
had whole systems of theology in my head, 
so that I could even instruct the learned 
professors, they would not let me through 
my examination ; they demand also a so- 
called religious experience. And if I were 
the apostle Paul himself, they would have 
nothing to do with me, if they knew about 
the little scar on my cheek.” 

“But what will you do, then? asked 
Mining, and laid her hand hastily on his 
arm. “ Ah, don’t be a soldier ! ” 

“ God forbid ! Don’t think of such a 
thing ! No, I will be a farmer.” 

“ Confounded scamp 1 ” said Br'asig, up 
in the tree. 

“ Yes, my dear little Mining,” said Ru- 
dolph, drawing her down on the bench be- 
side him, “ I will be a farmer, a right ac- 
tive, skilful farmer, and you, my little 
old dear Mining, shall help me about 
it.” 

“ She shall teach him to plough and to 
harrow,” said Brasig. 

“ I, Rudolph V ” asked Mining, 

“ Yes, you, my dear, sweet child,” — and 
he stroked the shining hair, and the soft 
cheeks, and lifted the little chin, and looked 


112 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


full in the blue eyes, — “ if I only knew, 
with certainty, that in a year and a day 
you would be my little wife, it would be 
easy for me to learn to be a skilful far 
mer. Will you, Mining, will you ? ” 

And the tears flowed from Mining’s eyes, 
and Rudolph kissed them away, hepe and 
there, over her cheeks, down to her rosy 
mouth, and Mining laid her little round 
head on his breast, and when he gave her 
time to speak, she whispered softly that 
she would, and he kissed her again, and 
ever again, and Brasig called, half aloud, 
from the tree, “ But that is too much of 
a good thing 1 Have done ! ” 

And Rudolph told her, between the 
kisses, that he would speak with his father, 
to-day, and remarked also, by the way, it 
was a pity Briisig was not there ; he could 
help him finely in his undertaking, and he 
knew the old man thought a great deal of 
him. 

“ Confounded scamp 1 ” said Brasig, 
“ catching away my tench ! ” 

And Mining said Brasig was there, and 
was taking his afternoon nap. 

“Just hear the rogue, will you?” said 
Brasig. “This looks like an afternoon 
nap ! But it is all finished now. Why 
should I torment my poor bones any 
longer ? ” And as Rudolph was saying he 
must speak to the old gentleman, Brasig 
slid down the cherry-tree, until his trousers 
were stripped up to his knees, and caught 
by the lowest branches, saying, “ Here he 
hangs ! ” and then he let himself fall,” 
and stood close before the pair of lovers, 
with an expression on his heated face, 
which said quite frankly he considered 
himself a suitable arbiter in the most deli- 
cate affairs. 

The young people did not conduct them- 
selves badly. Mining did like Lining in 
putting her hands before her face, only she 
did not cry, and she would have run away 
like Lining, if she had not, from a little 
child, stood on the most confidential foot- 
ing with her Uncle Brasig. She threw 
herself, with her eyes covered, against her 
Uncle Brasig’s breast, and crept with her 
little, round head almost into his waist- 
coat pocket, and cried, — 

“ Uncle Brasig ! Uncle Brasig ! you are 
an abominable old fellow ! ” 

“ So ? ” asked Brasig. “ Eh, that is very 
fine.” 

“ Yes,” said Rudolph, with a little air of 
superiority, “you should be ashamed to 
play the listener here.” 

“ Monsieur Noodle,” said Brasig, “ let me 
tell you, once for all, I have never in my 
life done anything to be ashamed of, and 


if you think you can teach me good man- 
ners you are very much mistaken.” 

Rudolph had sense enough to see this, 
and, although he would have relished a 
little contest, it was clear to him that on 
this occasion he must yield to Mining’s 
wishes. So he remarked, in a pleasanter 
tone, that if Brasig were up in the tree by 
chance — he would take that for granted 

— he might at least have advised them of 
his presence, by coughing, or in some way, 
instead of listening to their affairs from A 
to Z. 

“ So ? ” said Brasig, “ I should have 
coughed, should I ? I groaned often enough 
and if you had not been so occupied with 
your own affairs, you might easily have 
heard me. But you ought to be ashamed, 
to be making love to Mining without Frau 
Niissler’s permission.” 

That was his own affair, Rudolph said, 
and nobody’s else, and Brasig knew noth- 
ing about such matters. 

“ So ? ” asked Brasig, again. “ Did you 
ever have three sweethearts at once ? I 
did, sir ; three acknowledged sweethearts, 
and do I know about such matters ? But 
you are such a sly old rascal, fishing my 
tench out of the Black Pool, on the sly ; 
and fishing my little Mining, before my 
very eyes, out of the arbor. Come, leave 
him alone, Mining ! he shall have nothing 
to do with you.” 

“ Ah, Uncle Brasig,” begged Mining so 
artlessly, “be good to us, we love each 
other so much.” 

“ Well, never mind, Mining, you are my 
little goddaughter ; though that is all over 
now.” 

“ No, Herr Inspector 1 ” cried Rudolph, 
laying his hand on the old man’s shoulder, 

“ no, dear, good Uncle Brasig, that is not 
over, that shall last as long as we live. 

I will be a farmer, and if I have the 
prospect of calling Mining my wife, and ” 

— he was cunning enough to add — “ and 
you will give me your valuable advice, 
the devil must be in it, if I cannot make 
a good one.” 

“ A confounded rascal ! ” said Brasig to 
himself, adding, aloud, “ Yes, you wilf be 
such a Latin farmer as Pistorius, and Prse- 
torius, and Trebonius, and you will sit on 
the bank of the ditch and read that fel- 
low’s book, with the long title, about 
oxygen and carbonic acid gas, and or- 
ganisms, while the cursed farmboys are 
strewing manure, behind your back, in 
lumps as big as your hat-crown. Oh, I 
know you! I never knew but one man 
who had been to the great schools, and 
was worth anything afterward, and that 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


was the young Herr von Rainbow, who 
was with Habermann.” 

“ Ah, Uncle Br'asig,” said Mining, lifting 
her head, suddenly, and stroking the old 
man’s cheeks, “ what Franz can do, Ru- 
dolph can do also.” 

“ No, Mining, that he can not ! And 
why? Because he is a greyhound, and 
the other is a decided character ! ” 

“ Uncle Brasig,” said Rudolph, “ you 
are thinking of that stupid trick of mine, 
about the sermon ; but Gottlieb had teased 
me so with his zeal for proselyting, I must 
play some little joke on him.” 

“ Ha, ha ! ” laughed Br'asig, “ well, why 
not, it amused me, it amused me very 
much. So he wanted to convert you too, 
from fishing, perhaps? Oh, he has been 
trying to convert somebody here, this 
afternoon, but Lining ran away from him ; 
however, that is all right.” 

“ With Lining and Gottlieb ? asked 
Mining anxiously, “ and have you listened 
to that, too ? ” 

“ Of course I listened to it, it was on 
their account I perched myself in this con- 
founded cherry-tree. But now come here 
Monsieur Rudolph. Will you, all your 
life long, never again go into the pulpit 
and preach a sermon ? ” 

“ No, never again.” 

“ Will you get up at four o’clock in the 
morning, and three o’clock in the summer- 
time, and give out fodder grain ? ” 

“ Always, at the very hour.” 

“Will you learn how to plough and 
harrow and mow properly, and to reap 
and bind sheaves, that is, with a band, — 
there is no art in using a rope ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Rudolph. 

“ Will you promise never to sit over the 
punch-bowl, at the Thurgovian ale-house, 


113 

when your wagons are already gone, and 
then ride madly after them ? ” 

“I will never do it,” said Rudolph. 

“ Will you also never in your life — 
Mining, see that beautiful larkspur, the 
blue, I mean, just bring it to me, and let 
me smell it — will you,” he continued, 
when she was gone, “ never entangle your- 
self with the confounded farm-girls? ” 

“ Herr Inspector, what do you take me 
for ? ” said Rudolph angrily, turning 
away. 

“ Come, come,” said Br'asig, “ every 
business must be settled beforehand, and 
I give you warning : for every tear my 
little godchild sheds on your account I 
will give your neck a twist,” and he 
looked as fierce as if he were prepared to 
do it immediately. 

“Thank you Mining,” said he, as she 
brought him the flower, and he smelled it, 
and stuck it in his buttonhole. 

“ And now, come here, Mining, I will 
give you my blessing. No, you need not 
fall on your knees, since I am not one of 
your natural parents, but merely your 
godfather. And you, Monsieur Rudolph, 
I will stand by you this afternoon, when 
your father comes, and help you out of 
this clerical scrape. And now, come, both 
of you, we must go in. But I tell you, 
Rudolph, don’t sit reading, by the ditches, 
but attend to the manure-strewing. You 
see there is a trick in it, the confounded 
farm-boys must take the fork, and then 
not throw it off directly, no 1 they must 
first break it up three or four times with 
the fork, so that it gets well separated. A 
properly manured field ought to look as 
neat and fine as a velvet coverlid.” 

With that, he went, with the others, out 
of the garden gate. 


8 




114 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

Towards the middle of the afternoon, 
the merchant Kurz, and the rector Bal- 
drian were approaching the Rexow farm. 

Kurz had invited the rector to be his 
companion, to his own detriment, for a 
little man appears to fearful disadvantage 
beside a long-legged fellow, and nature, in 
cheating Kurz of his rightful dimensions, 
appeared to have endowed the rector with 
the surplus. So they walked along the 
road, and the rector made a joke ; he said 
that they two together reminded him of 
the metre, which the Romans called a 
dactyl, long, short, short ; long, short, short. 
That provoked Kurz, since it was dis- 
paraging to his legs and his capabilities as 
a pedestrian ; he took the longest possible 
steps. 

“Now we can pass for a spondee,” said 
the rector. 

“ Do me the favor, brother-in-law,” said 
Kurz, angrily, and wholly out of breath, 
“to spare me your learned witticisms. 
They are altogether too much for me.” 
And he wiped off the sweat from his face, 
pulled off his coat, and hung it over his 
stick. 

In his belief, Kurz was properly a mate- 
rialist, but by trade he was a mercer. 
There were always remnants left over, in 
this business, which was quite a conveni- 
ence to a man of his short stature, since 
he could use them up for himself. When 
he had cleared out his old stock last year, 
he had a piece of ladies’ dress goods left 
on hand, on which were represented 
giraffes plucking at a palm-tree. He 
could not think of throwing it away, and 
he could not get rid of it, so he had it 
made up into a summer coat for himself, 
and he was now marching on the Rexow 
farm, with this banner over his shoulder, 
as if he were the youngest standard- 
bearer in the army of a German prince, 
who bore a giraffe and a palm-tree in his 
shield; and rector Baldrian stalked by 
his side, in a yellow nankeen coat, like a 
right file-leader, in the body-guard of the 
German prince, who might, for a change, 
have adopted yellow nankeen as a uni- 
form. 

“ Dear me ! ” sighed Frau Niissler, 
“ Kurz is bringing the rector with him.” 

“ Sure enough,” said Brasig, “ but he 
shall not incommode us much to-day, 
I will cut his speeches short.” For they 
both had, not without reason, a great 
terror of the rector’s circumstantiality. 

The two guests entered, and the rector 
delivered a long oration upon his joy in 


seeing them again, and the happy oppor- 
tunity of coming with Kurz; to which 
Brasig replied curtly, that long legs were 
the best opportunities for one who was 
going across country, and turned away, so 
that the rector, while Frau Niissler was 
occupied with Kurz, found his audience 
limited to Jochen, who listened in the most 
exemplary manner to the whole discourse, 
and finally said, “ Good day, brother-in-law, 
sit down a little while.” 

Kurz was out of temper; in the first 
place, because he had come to give his 
boy a scolding, secondly, because the 
rector had walked him off his legs, and, 
thirdly, because in pulling off his coat he 
had taken cold, and got a fit of the 
hiccoughs. His crossness, to be sure, was 
nothing remarkable, for he was angry year 
in and year out, because he was a demo- 
crat, of course not a state democrat, for 
they didn’t have such then in Mecklen- 
burg ; only a city democrat, since he made 
it the particular business of his life to pull 
public offices from the grasp of the thick- 
nosed baker, in the market-place, who was 
so horribly favored by the burgomeister. 
He went puffing and hiccoughing about 
the room, and looked, with his red, moist 
face and his short grizzled hair, like a fine, 
red, freshly cut ham, cooked in paste, wen 
sprinkled with pepper and salt, with the 
gravy following the knife. 

The comparison is not strictly accurate, 
because the knife was wanting, but Brasig 
took care for that ; he ran to the dresser, 
caught up a long, sharp carving-knife, 
marched directly up to the ham and said, 

“ So, Kurz, now sit perfectly still.” 

“ What is that for ? ” inquired Kurz. 

“ Remedy for the hiccoughs. So ! Now 
you must look right at the point of the 
knife. Now I come nearer and nearer 
to you with the point; but you must be 
frightened, or it will do you no good. 
Still nearer, — still nearer, as if I 'were 
going to split your nose open. Still 
nearer — close to your eyes.” 

“ Thunder and lightning ! ” cried Kurz, 
springing up. “ Do you mean to put my 
eyes out ? ” 

“ Good 1 ” said Brasig, “ good ! You are 
frightened, and that will help you.” 

And it did help, truly, that is, as regards 
the hiccoughs, not as regards the cross- 
ness. 

“ Where is my boy ? ” he asked. “ He 
shall get a scolding to-day. Nothing but 
vexations, brother-in-law ! ” turning to 
Jochen. “ Here with the boy, at the 
Rathhaus with the public documents, at 
home with my wife, on account of that 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


confounded sermon affair, in the shop 
with that beast of an apprentice, selling 
a half ounce of black sewing silk for a 
drachm, and here, on the road, with the 
rector’s long shanks.” 

“Mother,” said young Jochen, pushing 
a coffee-cup towards her, “ help Kurz.” 

“ Eh, brother-in-law,” said Frau Nussler, 
“ there is time enough, let us talk it over 
first ; to come down on the boy when you 
are so heated would be like pouring oil on 
the fire.” 

“I’ll come down on him ” began 

Kurz ; but he went no further, for the 
door opened, and Gottlieb entered. 

Gottlieb’s step was more than usually 
dignified, as he walked up to his father, 
and greeted him. He was so excessively 
solemn, and had such an air of clerical re- 
serve, that he looked as if St. Salbaderus 
had taken him under his special tuition, 
and hung him up by a string every night, 
to keep him out of harm’s way. 

“ Good day, how goes it, papa ? ” said 
he, and kissed his father on the cheek, so 
that the old man kissed in the air, like a 
carp, when he comes up out of the water. 

“ How is mamma ? ” inquired the son. 

Gottlieb had been brought up from a 
child to say “Papa” and “Mamma,” be- 
cause the rector thought “Father” and 
“ Mother,” although quite good enough 
for ordinary burghers, were not suitable 
for educated people ; at which Frau Kurz 
was naturally very indignant, since her 
children always said “ Daddy ” and “ Mam- 
my.” 

“ Good day, uncle,” said Gottlieb to 
Kurz, “ good day, Herr Inspector,” to 
Brasig, and, turning again to his father, 
he went on: “I am very glad you have 
come to-day, for I wish to speak to you 
particularly, on" important business.” 

“ Ha, ha,” said Brasig to himself, “ it is 
beginning already.” 

The rector went out into the court-yard 
with his son, and Brasig stationed himself 
at the window, and watched them. Frau 
Nussler came up to him : “ Brasig, did you 
find out anything, this afternoon, about 
my little girls ? ” 

“ Frau Nussler,” said Brasig, “ don’t you 
be troubled, the business has settled it- 
self.” 

“ What ? ” cried Frau Nussler, hastily, 
“how has it settled itself? ” 

“ You will soon find out, for if you look 
out of the window you will see it is being 
settled now. Why do you think the rec- 
tor is shaking hands with Gottlieb, and 
embracing him ? On account of his Chris- 
tian belief? Come, I will tell you why; 


115 

it is because you, Frau Nussler, are such a 
good housekeeper.” 

Brasig had great knowledge of human 
nature, and could read hearts like a 
prophet ; but he shared the common fail- 
ing of prophets, he uttered dark sayings. 
Frau Nussler did not understand a word: 
“ What ? He embraces Gottlieb because 
I am a good housekeeper 1 ” 

Brasig had another prophet’s failing ; he 
gave no answer to a reasonable question, 
if it did not suit his humour. “ Can’t you 
see how he gives him his blessing ? ” he 
exclaimed. “ He knows very well that 
money answereth all things, and he knows 
there is plenty of it here.” 

“What has that to do with my chil- 
dren ? ” 

“ You will soon find out. See ! now the 
Pietist is going away, and now look at the 
old man. Lord have mercy on us ! he is 
learning off a speech by heart ; and it will 
be a long one, — all his speeches are long, 
but the ceremonious ones are the long- 
est.” 

Brasig had great knowledge of human 
nature, as was fully proved on this occa- 
sion, for the rector came in, and began im- 
mediately : 

“ Honored friends, a certain wise man of 
antiquity has uttered the indisputable 
truth, that the happiest home is that where 
quiet peace dwells, in company with a com- 
fortable, substantial competency. Here, in 
this house, this is the case. I have not 
come here to disturb this quiet peace ; my 
dear brother-in-law, Kurz can do what he 
pleases, — I have come by accident, but 
accident is a ‘ casus ’ or falling out, 
whereby important things sometimes fall 
in a man’s way. This is the case with me 
to-day. This accident may fall out for 
good, or it may fall out for evil ; but I will 
not anticipate, I will say nothing further 
about it. Dear Brother Jochen, you as 
the proper head of this happily situated 
family ” — Jochen made a face as if his 
brother-in-law had said he was the proper 
autocrat of all Russia, and ought by good 
rights to be sitting on his throne in the 
Kremlin at Moscow, instead of sitting here 
in the chimney-corner — “ yes,” repeated 
the rector, “you, as the proper head of 
the family, will pardon me if I address my- 
self also to my dear sister-in-law, who has 
cared for the affairs of her own family with 
so much love and circumspection, and with 
such blessed results, and also upon the 
families related — I refer here particularly 
to the friendly reception of' my Gottlieb — 
has exerted a highly beneficial influence. 
You, my dear brother-in-law Kurz, belong 


116 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


also to the family, and although our two 
families, at least the female members, have 
been lately a little divided, though — well, 
on this happy occasion we will say nothing 
more about it — I am sure you really feel 
interested in my happiness. But now,” 
going up to Brasig, “ how shall I address 
you, Herr Inspector? You, though you 
do not, strictly speaking, belong to the 
family, have yet been so helpful in action, 
so wise in counsel ” 

“ Come, I will give you a bit of advice,” 
said the old man ; “ take a fresh start or 
you will never get to the end.” 

“ End ? ” said the rector, with the au- 
thority of the clergyman breaking through 
the crust of the pedant. “ End ? ” asked 
he, solemnly, raising his eyes to heaven, 
‘‘will it come to a good or a bad end? 
Who knows the end ? ” 

“ I know it,” said Brasig, “ for I heard 
the beginning, this afternoon, up in that 
confounded cherry-tree. The end of the 
whole story is, the Pietist wants to marry 
our Lining.” 

Then there was an uproar. “ Gracious 
heavens ! ” cried Frau Niissler. “ Gottlieb ! 
our child ? ” 

“Yes,” said the rector, snapping out 
the word, and standing there like Klein, 
the head-fireman at Stemhagen, when the 
engines were being tried, and the hose 
burst, and he got the whole stream of wa- 
ter over himself. 

Kurz sprang up, exclaiming ; “ The ras- 
cal ! Gottlieb ? That is too much ! ” 

And Jochen also got up, but slowly, and 
asked Brasig, “ Mining , did you say, Bra- 
sig?” 

“No, young Jochen, only Lining” said 
Brasig, quietly. And young Jochen sat 
down again. 

“ And you knew that, Brasig, and never 
told us ? ” cried Frau Niissler. 

“ Oh, I know yet more,” said Brasig, 
“but why should I tell you? What dif- 
ference could it make whether you knew 
it a quarter of an hour sooner, or not ; and 
I thought it would be a pleasant surprise 
for you.” 

“ And here he is,” said the rector, lead- 
ing in Gottlieb, who had been behind the 
door all the time, “ and he wishes to re- 
ceive his answer from your kindness.” 

And now came old Gottlieb, for once with 
nothing ludicrous about him, but like any 
other man. His clerical demeanor, and the 
exclusiveness of his Levitical calling, he 
had quite thrown overboard, since he had 
no room in his heart for such folderols.At 
this moment it was full of pure human na- 
ture, of doubt and hope, of fear and love, 


J and those who could decide his happiness 
or misery stood before him as human be- 
ings in flesh and blood — Jochen to be sure 
was sitting — and real love, with its proper 
circumstances of betrothal and marriage, 
is such a fair, pure, human feeling, that 
truly no clerical parade can make it fairer. 
At any other time, Gottlieb himself would 
have been the first to dispute this asser- 
tion, but at this moment he was so over- 
come by this tender feeling, and expressed 
himself with so much warmth and confi- 
dence toward Frau Niissler and Jochen, 
that Brasig said to himself, “ How the man 
has altered ! If Lining has done so much 
in this short time, let her go on, in heaven’s 
name ! She will make a good fellow of 
him yet ! ” 

Frau Niissler listened to Gottlieb’s 
straightforward story, and indeed she had 
always liked old Gottlieb, but the thought 
of losing her child overcame her for the 
moment ; she was much agitated ; “ Good 
heavens 1 ” cried she, “ Gottlieb, you were 
always a good fellow, and you studied your 
books well, but ” 

Here she was for the first time in her 
life, interrupted by Jochen. • When Jochen 
understood that they were not talking 
about Mining, he became quiet; while 
Gottlieb addressed him, he was collecting 
his thoughts and, as he became aware that 
all eyes were turned upon him, he resolved 
to speak, and so he took the words out of 
his wife’s mouth, saying, “ Yes, Gottlieb, 
it is all as true as leather, and what I can 
do in the matter, as a father, I will do, and 
if mother is willing I am willing; and if 
Lining is willing I am willing.” 

“ Good heavens, Jochen ! ” cried Frau 
Niissler, “what are you talking about? 
Just keep quiet 1 No, I must first speak 
to my child, I must first hear what she 
will say to it.” With that she ran out of 
the room. 

But it was not long before she came 
back, leading Lining by the hand, and be- 
hind her followed Mining and Rudolph, 
probably intending to make a practical use 
of this occasion ; and Lining, red as a rose, 
dropped her mother’s hand, and threw her- 
self upon Gottlieb’s breast, and then on 
her mother’s, and then went and sat down 
on Jochen’s knee — for he had seated him- 
self again — and would have kissed him, 
but could not for coughing, for Jochen in 
his excitement was puffing violently at his 
strong tobacco, so she only said “ Father ! ” 
and he said “ Lining ! ” and when she rose, 
Brasig was standing beside her, and he 
caressed her, and said ; “ Never mind, Lin- 
ing, I will give you something.” Then 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


Gottlieb took her by the hand, and led her 
up to his father, and the rector bent so low 
to give her his fatherly kiss, that the oth- 
ers thought he was picking up a pin from 
the floor, and he began on a new oration, 
but did not get far in it, for Brasig stood at 
the window, drumming “ The old Dessauer,” 
so that nobody could hear a word. The old 
man was staring over Jochen’s barn-roof, 
into the clear sunshine, as if there were 
something quite remarkable to be seen 
there. And there was, in fact, something 
remarkable to be seen ; he saw, far off, an ap- 
ple-tree, which had been once covered with 
rosy bloom ; it was his tree, he had propped 
and trained it, it was his tree, but Jochen 
had transplanted it to his garden, and he 
had been compelled to suffer it ; but for all 
that, he had still watched and tended the 
tree, and the tree had borne fruit, beauti- 
ful red, round fruit; and the fruit had 
grown ripe, and was fair to look upon, and 
now a couple of boys had climbed over the 
fence, and one had plucked an apple, and 
put it in his pocket, and the second was 
reaching out his haud for the other. Well, 
boys will be boys, and apples and boys be- 
long together ; he knew that, and had often 
said to himself that it must come ; he did 
not grudge them, but it troubled him that 
the care of his little twin-apples should 
pass into other hands, especially he could 
not easily give up the care of his little 
rogue, so he drummed lustily on the win- 
dow-frame. 

And Kurz, the shop-keeper, blew his 
nose as fiercely as if he were playing the 
trumpet to Brasig’s drumming. It was 
not from emotion, that he blew it so im- 
pressively, only from anger ; for he was the 
fifth wheel on the wagon amid all this do- 
mestic happiness, and yet he had come on 
an important piece of business ; but the 
circumstances demanded that he should 
offer friendly congratulations, so with a 
face like a salt plum that has been steeped 
in vinegar, he passed by his son Rudolph 
without looking at him, and congratulated, 
right and left, as if he stood behind his 
counter, serving his customers, and must 
have a friendly word ready for every one, 
though he heard clearly all the time, be- 
hind his back, the whole vinegar barrel 
running out. But when he came to the 
rector, and should have poured him out a 
measure of oil for his pathetic oration, 
there was the vinegar, which his boy had 
left running, close at his heels, and he 
could talk to his customers no longer ; he 
turned quickly on his heel, and cried to 
Rudolph, “ Are you not ashamed of your- 
self? ” then turning back to the customers, 


117 

“ I beg your pardon ! but this business 
must be attended to — are you not ashamed 
of yourself? Have you not cost me more 
than Gottlieb his father ? Have you learnt 
anything ? Just tell me ! ” 

“ Dear brother-in-law,” said the rector, 
and laid his hand with friendliness on 
Kurz’s head, as if he had done his Latin 
exercise uncommonly well, “ what he has 
learned, he cannot tell you in a moment.” 

“ Eh, what ! ” cried Kurz, twitching out 
from under the hand, and stumbling back- 
ward, “ did you bring me along, or did I 
bring you along ? I think I brought you 
along; it is time for my business to be 
attended to now. Are you not ashamed 
of yourself? ” he cried, to Rudolph again; 
“ there stands Gottlieb, has passed his 
examination, has a bride, — a fair, a lovely 
bride,” — with that he endeavoured to 
bow to Lining, but in his excitement 
always made his compliments to Frau 
Nussler, — “can be a pastor to-morrow,” 

— Brasig got this bow, instead of Gottlieb, 

— “ and you, and you — oh, you have 
fought duels, and what else have you 
done ? Got into debt ; but I won’t pay 
your debts ! ” and although nobody said 
that he should pay them, he kept repeat- 
ing, “ I won’t pay them I No ! I won’t 
pay them!” and he placed himself by 
Brasig, at the window, and joined him in 
drumming. 

The poor boy, Rudolph, stood there, 
terribly mortified. It is true, nature had 
given him a pretty tough hide, and he was 
too well used to his father’s abuse, to take 
it for more than it was worth, for nobody 
must believe that Kurz, in his inmost 
heart, was angry with his boy, no, God 
forbid ! quite the contrary ! because he 
cared so much for him, he was angry that 
his boy was not so well off as the rector’s. 

But for all that, and although Rudolph 
knew right well how much his father 
thought of him, he could not bear it this 
time, for the old man was too hard on him, 
and before so many witnesses, and he had 
a whole stream of bitter words on the end 
of his tongue, when his eye fortunately 
fell upon Mining, wh,o this afternoon 
reckoned herself truly one bone and one 
flesh with Rudolph, for her flesh was pale 
instead of his, and every bone in her body 
trembled for him. Rudolph swallowed his 
bitter words, and for the first time the 
feeling came over him, that his misdeeds 
could recoil on any other head than his 
own, and he resolved to do nothing for the 
future, without looking into Mining’s eyes 
first. And, I say, that is a very good sign 
of a young, honest love. 


118 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


“ Father,” said he, when he had con- 
trolled himself, and went, without troub- 
ling himself at the long faces around him, 
up to his father, and laid his hand on his 
shoulder, “ Father, come ! I have done 
with stupid tricks from henceforth.” 

Kurz kept on drumming ; but Brasig 
stopped. 

“Father,.” said Rudolph again, “you 
have reason to be angry with me, I have 
deserved it, but •” 

“ Stop your confounded drumming ! ” 
said Brasig, arresting Kurz’s knuckles. 

“Father,” said Rudolph, offering his 
hand to his father, “come, forgive and 
forget ! ” 

“ No ! ” said Kurz, thrusting both hands 
in his pockets. 

“ What ? ” said Brasig, “ You will not ? 
I know very well, nobody should interfere 
between father and son, but I will inter- 
fere, because it is your own fault that the 
business has been talked about so openly, 
What ! You will not forget and forgive 
this young fellow’s follies, and he your 
own son ? Haven’t you always sent me 
that old, sweet Prussian Kiimmel, and 
didn’t I forgive and forget, and go and 
trade with you again, and pay you hon- 
estly ? ” 

“ I have always served you well,” said 
Kurz. 

“ So ? ” asked Brasig, mockingly. “ How 
about that trousers’ pattern ? Young 
Jochen, you know all about it, you can 
remember how they looked afterwards.” 

“ Those stupid old trousers ! ” cried 
Kurz, “ you have made so much fuss about 
them already that ” 

“ Ha, ha ! ” interrupted Brasig, “ do you 
talk like that ? Wasn’t it pure wicked- 
ness on your part, to let me wear them, 
and you knowing they would turn red, 
and haven’t I forgiven and forgotten? 
Well, not forgotten, to be sure, for I have 
a very good memory, — but if you don’t for- 
get what the young fellow has done, you 
can at least forgive him.” 

“ Dear brother-in-law,” began the rector, 
who believed that, in consideration of his 
having formerly been a clergyman, it was 
his duty to make peace. 

“ Do me the pleasure ! ” cried Kurz, 
turning short round, “you have a bride, 
and will get a parish, — that is to say, 
your Gottlieb will get one, and we — we 
— we have learnt nothing, we have no 
bride, no parish, and we have a scar ! ” 
and then he ran wildly about the room. 

“Father!” cried Rudolph, “just hear 
me ! ” 

“Yes,” said Frau Niissler, who was 


heated to the point of boiling over, and 
she caught Kurz by the arm ; “just hear 
what he has to say for himself. If he did 
do a foolish thing about the sermon, — 
and no one was more troubled about it 
than I, — yet otherwise he is a good boy, 
and many a father would be proud of 
him.” 

“ Yes, yes ! ” said Kurz, impatiently, “ I 
will hear him, I will listen to him,” and he 
placed himself before Rudolph with his 
hands on his sides : “ Come now, say what 
you have to say, now say it ! ” 

“Dear father,” said Rudolph, standing 
there with a beseeching and yet resolved 
expression upon his face, “ I know it will 
grieve you deeply, but I cannot do other- 
wise ; I shall not be a clergyman, I am 
going to be a farmer.” 

It is said that they teach the bears to 
dance, in Poland, by putting them on hot 
iron plates, where they must keep their 
legs constantly in motion, to avoid being 
burned. In precisely such a manner, did 
Kurz hop about the room, at these words 
of Rudolph’s, first on one foot and then on 
the other, as if the devil were under Frau 
Niissler’s floor, toasting his feet for him. 
“That is pretty,” he cried at every jump, 
“ that is fine ! My son, who has cost me 
so much, who has learned so much, will be 
a farmer! will be a clodhopper, a block- 
head, a stable-boy ! ” 

“ Young Jochen,” cried Brasig, “ shall 
we suffer ourselves to be called by such 
names ? Stand up, young Jochen ! What, 
Herr ! ” exclaimed he, going up to Kurz, 
“ such a herring-dealer, such a syrup-prince 
as you, to despise farmers ! Herr, do you 
know who we are ? We are your very 
foundation ; if it were not for us, and our 
buying of you, the shopkeepers might all 
run about the country with beggars’ 
sacks, — and you think your son has 
learned too much for such a calling ? He 
has learned too much, perhaps, in one way, 
but he has learned too little in another. 
Do you believe, Herr, that a capable agri- 
culturalist — stand up here by me, Jochen ! 
— needs nothing but a sheep’s head and 
asses’ ears ? ” 

“ Dear brother-in-law,” began the rector, 
again. 

“Will you kill me, with your long 
speeches ? ” roared Kurz. “ You have 
sheared your little sheep; I came out, 
also, to shear my black sheep, and now 
you all seem bent on shearing me.” 

“Kurz,” said Frau Niissler, “be reason- 
able. What cannot be, cannot. If he 
won’t be a pastor, he is the nearest thing 
to it, as the Frau Pastorin says; and in 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


my opinion, if lie is only an industrious 
fellow, it is all the same whether he 
preaches or ploughs.” 

“Father,” said Rudolph now, as he 
noticed that his father was considering, 
“ give me your consent ; you do not know 
how much my life’s happiness depends on 
it.” 

“ Who will take you for a pupil ? ” cried 
Kurz, still angrily. “ Nobody ! ” 

“ That is my affair,” said Brasig. “ I 
know a man, — thar is Hilgendorff, of 
Tetzleben, — who understands book-farm- 
ing, and who has already done well for his 
pupils. He had one fellow, who was be- 
side himself with poetry, which he used to 
write behind the shed; if he wanted to 
say that the sun was risen, he said, ‘ Au- 
rora had looked over the hedge,’ and when 
he would speak of a storm coming up, he 
said, ‘It glowed and towered up, in the 
west,’ and if he would say it drizzled, he 
said, ‘ Light drops distilled from heaven,’ 
— and for all that, he has made a useful 
man out of him. He must go to Hilgen- 
dorff.” 

“ Yes,” said Kurz, “ but I must speak 
with Hilgendorff; I shall tell him ” 

“ Tell him everything, father,” said 
Rudolph, embracing the old man, “but I 
have yet another petition.” 

“ Ha, ha ! ” cried Kurz, “ about your 
debts, I suppose ; but don’t come near me 
with those to-day, I have enough of this 
clodhopper business, and I won’t pay 
them ! ” and he shoved his son away. 

* “ And you shall not, father,” said Ru- 
dolph, drawing himself up proudly, and 
his whole bearing expressed such cheerful 
courage and such sure confidence, that all 
eyes were attracted towards him. “ You 
shall not do it ! ” he cried, “ I have incurred 
debts to-day, and I have given my word 
of honor, honestly to pay and discharge 
them, and I will do it, with my heart’s 
blood. I have made them here,” he ex- 
claimed, going up to Mining, who all 
this time, and through all this quarrel, had 
been lying on her sister’s shoulder, and 
who felt as if it were the beginning of the 
judgment day. “ Here ! ” said he, and 
laid Mining on his own breast. “ If I am 
ever good for anything, you have this 
little girl here to thank for it,” and the 
tears started from his eyes, “ my darling 
little bride.” 

“ Confounded rascal ! ” said Brasig, rub- 
bing his eyes, and he went back to the 
window, and drummed the Dessauer, for 
he was the only one who was not surprised 
at this announcement. The others stood 
there, confounded. 


119 

“ Good Heavens ! ” cried Frau Niissler, 
“ what is this ? ” 

“What?” cried Jochen, “ Mining , did 
he say ? ” 

“ Good gracious, Jochen, don’t talk so 
much ! ” cried Frau Niissler, “ Mining, 
what is this, what does this mean ? ” 

But Mining lay on Rudolph’s breast, as 
white and still, as if she would never raise 
her head, or speak another word. Kurz 
had comprehended the matter at once, he 
had quickly ciphered out in his head a 
couple of examples in arithmetic, of which 
Jochen’s property furnished the principal 
items, and he found the result so satis- 
factory, that he began to dance again, 
this time, however, not like the Polish 
bears, but like a wild Indian executing a 
war-dance, and Brasig drummed the meas- 
ure. Rector Baldrian’s face was the one 
quiet point, in all this general excitement, 
for it looked as uncomprehensive as min e 
would, if I were poring over a Hebrew 
Bible. 

“ Wh’at is this, what does this mean ? ” 
cried Frau Niissler again, sinking into a 
chair. “ Both my two 1 Both my little 
girls in one and the same day ! And you 
said,” turning upon Brasig, “that you 
would look after them ! ” 

“ Frau Niissler,” said Brasig, “ have I 
not looked after them, till all my bones 
were sore ? But there is no harm done, 
so far as I can see. What do you say to 
it, Jochen ? ” 

“I have nothing to say; my blessed 
mother always said : A candidate and a 
governess ” 

“ Jochen,” cried Frau Niissler, “ you will 
talk me dead, and you learned this very 
chattering from Rudolph, the rascal ! ” 

“ Blockhead ! ” exclaimed Kurz, dancing 
about the pair, “ why didn’t you tell me 
that, in the first place ? I would have 
forgiven you anything, on account of this 
little — this dear little danghter ! ” and he 
lifted up Mining’s head, and kissed her. 

“ Gracious heavens ! ” cried Frau Niissler, 
“there is Kurz calling her his daughter, 
and kissing her, and his boy is nothing at 
all yet, and Mining is so inconsiderate ! ” 

“ So ? ” said Brasig. “ You mean be- 
cause she is the youngest? Now come 
here a minute, I want to speak to you 
privately, “ and he led Frau Niissler into 
the corner, and the two looked attentively 
at the old spittoon, which stood there. 
“ Frau Niissler,” said he, “ what is right 
for one, must be reasonable for the other. 
You have given your blessing to Lining, 
why not to Mining? Yes, it is true, she 
is not so thoughtful, because she is the 


120 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


youngest ; but after all, Madame Nussler, 
the difference in years is so little, in a pair 
of twins, that it is scarcely to be regarded, 
and then — you must give your daughter 
to the presbyter, and how he will take 
care of her, the devil knows 1 we know 
nothing about the ways of the clergy, for 
you and Jochen and I have never studied 
theology ; but the other, the duel-fighter, 
you see how he stands there, as if he could 
cut his way through the world — a con- 
founded rascal ! well, you see with him, as 
a farmer, we shall have the advantage, for 
you and Habermann and I, and if the 
worst comes to the worst, Jochen himself, 
Un look after him, and admonish him, and 
Keep him in order. And you see, Frau 
Nussler, I always thought Jochen would 
improve with age ; but does he improve ? 
No, he doesn’t improve, and it may be a 
real blessing for you to have this youth 
here, as a son-in-law, if he does well, for 
we are getting old, and when I close my 
eyes — well, I shall last a little while 
longer, perhaps — but it would be A great 
comfort to me to know that you had some 
one on hand, to look after you.” 

And the old fellow looked down fixedly 
into the spittoon, and Frau Nussler threw 
her arm around his neck, and kissed him, 
for the first time in her life, and said in a 
quiet, friendly way ; “ Br'asig, if you really 
think it right, then it cannot be against 
the will of God.” Many an arbor has 
witnessed a fresher, rosier, more glowing 
kiss, but the old spittoon would not ex- 
change with them. 

And Frau Nussler turned back, and 
went up to Rudolph, and said, “ Rudolph, 
I say nothing more but, In God’s name,” 
and she drew Mining to her arms, and 
reached after Lining, and laid the two 
little twins alternately upon her breast, as 
she had done years ago, and hope stood 
ao-ain at her side, in her freshest, green 
wreath, as she had done years ago ; yet it 
was quite different to day, from that other 
time. Then she had given the two little 
twins, now she would take them away; for 
hope is like the bee, she plunges into every 
flower, and extracts from each its honey. 

And Br'asig went up and down the room, 
with great strides, and held his nose in 
the air, and snuffed about, and elevated 
his eyebrows, and turned out his little 
legs, with as much dignity and importance, 
as if he were the rightful father, who 
should give away the children, and had 
made up his mind to the sacrifice, and by 
him also stood a fair, womanly image, with 
a wreath, it was a wreath of moss and yel- 
low immortelles; but it harmonized well 


with the still, sad eyes, and she took him 
softly by the hand, and led him again and 
ever again towards the mother and chil- 
dren, till he laid his hands on her head, 
and whispered in her ears, “ Be content, 
you shall have them still.” 

Rudolph had gone directly up to Gott- 
lieb, and offered him his hand : “ You are 
no longer angry with me, to-day, are you, 
Gottlieb ? ” and Gottlieb pressed his hand, 
saying, “ How can you think so, dear 
brother? Forgiveness is the Christian’s 
duty.” And the rector coughed, as if he 
were preparing to deliver a brief oration, 
but Kurz caught hold of his coat, and 
begged him, for God’s sake, not to spoil 
the business — and then all at once, the 
company became aware that Jochen was 
missing. Where was Jochen ? 

“ Good gracious ! ” cried Frau Nussler, 
“ where is my Jochen ? ” 

“Good gracious! where is Jochen?” 
repeated one and another ; but Brasig was 
the first who made any efforts to bring 
him back to his proper place ; he ran out, 
and screamed out of the front door, across 
the court-yard, “Jochen!” and ran back 
again, and screamed through the garden, 
“ Jochen ! ” and, as he came back through 
the kitchen, he saw a fiery face puffing 
and blowing at the coals, under a great 
copper kettle, and that was Jochen’s face. 

The feeling had come over him, that he 
ought to do something, in honor of such 
a special occasion, and his heart became 
so warm, that five and twenty degrees 
(Reaumur) in the shade seemed too cool 
for him, and since he wanted to bring his 
outside into harmony with his inside, and 
could think of nothing more suitable to a 
family festival, he decided upon punch, 
and was brewing it in the most energetic 
manner. Brasig assisted, and undertook 
the tasting, and they came back finally, 
bearing in Frau Niissler’s largest soup-tu- 
reen, both fiery as a pair of dragons guard- 
ing a treasure, and Jochen placed it on 
the table, with the single word, “ There ! ” 
and Brasig said to the little twin-apples, 

“ Go to your father, and thank him ; your 
father thinks of everybody.” 

As the old fellows gathered about the 
punch-bowl, and the young people had 
something else to think about, Frau Nuss- 
ler stole quietly out of the room; she 
wished to talk over the matter with an 
older friend than Br'asig. 

The little twin-apples were hidden in 
the green arbor of their happy future ; only 
as Uncle Br'asig’s playful jests blew aside 
the green leaves, their blushing faces were 
revealed. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


121 


“Yes,” said lie to Gottlieb, “there are 
all sorts of people in the world, and wicked 
Pietists among them. You wanted to con- 
vert me, take care I don’t convert you ; I 
shall convert you by means of Lining.” 
And as Gottlieb was about to reply, he 
stood up, and gave him his hand in the 
heartiest manner, “Well, never mind, you 
will have fire enough yet, and if you are 
the village pastor, I shall get on well with 
you, and we shall be good friends.” 

And to Rudolph, he said, “Just wait! 
You have caught my tench out of the pool, 
you rascal, but Hilgendorff will make you 
face the music,” and he went up to his 
young fishing-comrade and whispered in 
his ear : “ It is not so bad ! You must 
always think of Mining, with every bushel 
of corn you measure out, and when you 
are out in the spring, in a stiff east wind, 
with a dozen laborers, and the old loam- 
dust flies in your nose, and sticks there, as 
if a swallow had built her nest in your 
head, and the sun looks out through the 
dust, as round and red as a copper-kettle, 
then you must think that is Mining’s face, 
looking down on you. Isn’t it so, my little 
godchild ? ” 

Meanwhile the rector had drank three 
glasses of punch, one to the health of each 
betrothed pair, and one to the health of 
the company, and he would allow himself 
no longer to be hindered, even by Kurz, 
from resuming his interrupted speech. He 
began with the introduction to the introduc- 
tion. He stood up, reached after a tea-spoon 
and after the sugar-tongs, which had been 
on the table since coffee was served, 
coughed a couple of times, as a sign that 
he was ready to begin, and when he was 
aware that all were looking at him, and 
Jochen had folded his hands, he first looked 
very thoughtfully, now at the spoon, and 
then at the tongs. All at once, he thrust 
the spoon right under Brasig’s nose, as if 
Brasig had stolen it, and must be convicted 
of the act : “ Do you know that ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Brasig, “ what of it ? ” Then 
he held the sugar-tongs before Kurz’s eyes, 
and asked if he knew it. 

Kurz knew it, it was Jochen’s. 

“ Yes,” he began ; “ you know them ; that 
is, you have a sensible perception of them, 
you know how to distinguish them from 
other objects by color, shape, and bright- 
ness; but the moral conception, which I 
connect with them, you do not know.” 

Ha looked around, as if he expected 
some one to contradict him ; but they wera 
all silent. 

“ No, you do not know it ! I must com- 
municate and explain it to you. See, how 


long will it be before the careful housewife 
of this family will come and take spoon 
and tongs, and put these, which are now 
visibly divided, lying here on the table, 
into one common tea-caddy, where they 
will rest together ; in thousands of houses 
they rest together in one tea-caddy, and 
for a thousand years, they rest together in 
one tea-caddy. It is a custom honored for 
ages, that what belongs together should 
not be separated. And Adam ” — here he 
held up the sugar-tongs — “and Eve” 

— then he held up the tea-spoon — “ be- 
longed together, for they were created for 
each other,” — here he held them both up 

— “ and the Lord himself put them to- 

gether in the tea-caddy of Paradise. And 
what did Noah do ? He built himself an 
ark, a tea-caddy, — if you will, my be- 
loved, — and he called the males and fe- 
males, and they followed his call,” — • here 
he marched the sugar-tongs over the table, 
alternately pinching them together and 
letting them loose again, and shoved 
the tea-spoon after them — “ and they 
went ” 

“ Come in ! ” cried Brasig, for somebody 
knocked at the door, and in walked Fritz 
Triddelsitz. “ Herr Habermann’3 compli- 
ments to Herr Niissler, and would he lend 
him a pair of rape-sifters, as they were 
ready to begin harvesting.” This made a 
little disturbance, but the rector remained 
standing at his post. 

“Yes,” said Jochen, he would do so; 
and Fritz perceiving by the odor of the 
punch, and the rector’s state of prepara- 
tion, — which he knew well enough of old, 
since he had many a time made his shoul- 
ders black and blue, — that there was 
something unusual in progress, crossed the 
room on tiptoe, and sat down, and Jochen 
said, “Mining, help Triddelsitz.” Fritz 
drank, and the rector waited. 

“Begin again at the beginning,” said 
Brasig, “ else Triddelsitz cannot under- 
stand it.” 

“We were speaking, then,” began the 
rector 

“About the sugar-tongs and the tea- 
spoon,” cried Kurz, wickedly, “ and that 
they belonged in the tea-caddy,” and he 
snatched the silver out of his hand and put 
it into the caddy, saying, “ There, now the 
males and females are in Noah’s ark, and I 
think ours will get in there too. You 
must know, Triddelsitz, we are celebrating 
a double betrothal here, to-day, and that 
is the principal thing ; the rector’s sermon 
is only the fringe about the garment. 
What is Habermann doing ? ” 

“ Oh, thank you,” said Fritz, “ he is very 


122 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


well,” and he stood up, and offered his con- 
gratulations to the two couples, on their 
betrothal, in suitable terms enough, and 
yet with rather a condescending manner, 
as if it were merely a birthday, and the 
little twin-apples were betrothed every 
year. The rector stood waiting, all this 
time. 

“ Lining, help uncle rector,” said Jochen. 

She did so, and the rector drank ; but, 
instead of diverting his attention, the 
punch moved and stirred and poked about 
among the thoughts which he had collect- 
ed for his speech, and there was a great 
commotion in his brain, and every idea 
wanted to take the lead, but they were 
constantly pushed back by one after an- 
other of the company, now Jochen, now 
Kurz, and now Fritz, and as he was at 
last bringing forward his heavy artillery 
of “ reflections on marriage,” Brasig ob- 
served, in the most innocent way, “ You 
have been very happy, then, in the mar- 
ried state, Herr Rector ? ” 

He seated himself, with a deep sigh, and 
to this day, no one knows whether it was 
over his marriage or his speech. I incline to 
think the latter, for I hold it easier to re- 
sign a happy marriage than a happy 
speech. 

It was now evening, and the rector, 
Kurz, and Triddelsitz took leave ; Rudolph 
also was to go with them, for Brasig 
and Frau Niissler had both given their 
opinion that he should get into the traces 
immediately, for his new business, and not 
loaf about any longer. Jochen and Br'a- 
sig accompanied the others a little way. 

“How does your new master get on, 
Triddelsitz ? ” inquired Brasig. 

“ Thank you, Herr Inspector, he is quite 
remarkable, he made a speech to the la- 
borers this morning, as one might say, 
extempore.” 

“ What ! ” exclaimed Kurz, “ does he 
make speeches too ? ” 

“ What had he to speak about ? ” asked 
Brasig. 

“What did he make ? ” asked Jochen. 

“ A speech,” said Triddelsitz. 

“ I thought he was going to be a farm- 
er,” said Jochen. 

“ Why, yes,” said Triddelsitz ; “ but can- 
not a farmer make a speech ? -h 

That was too much for Jochen ; a farm- 
er make a speech? such a thing had 
never occurred to him before ; he did not 
say another word during the whole even- 
ing, until, just before he fell asleep, he 
uttered his ultimate conclusion: “That 
must be a confounded smart fellow ! ” 

Brasig did not give up so easily. “ What 


had he to speak about ? ” said he again. 
“ If there was anything to be done about 
the laborers, there is Habermann ! ” 

“ Herr Inspector,” said the rector, fall- 
ing in, “ a good speech is always in place. 

Cicero ” 

“ Who was this Cicero ? ” 

“ The greatest orator of antiquity.” 

“ Eh, I didn’t ask about that ; I mean, 
what was his business ; was he a farmer, 
or a shopkeeper, or was he appointed a 
magistrate, or was he a doctor, or what 
was he ? ” 

“ I have told you, he was the greatest 
orator of antiquity.” 

“ Oh, antiquity here, antiquity there ! if 
he was nothing else — I cannot bear those 
old gabblers, a man should do something. 
Let me tell you, Rudolph, don’t be an 
orator, you may fish, for all me, it is all 
one, perch or carp, — but this speaking is 
as if you should go fishing in a well. And 
now, good night ! Come Jochen ! ” 

With that, they went off, and Fritz 
struck off to the right, across the Purnpel- 
hagen fields, with a medley of thoughts in 
his head. 

The old fellow was not envious, but it 
went against the grain that his two school- 
mates in Rahnstadt should each have a 
bride, while as yet he had none. But he 
knew how to comfort himself. No, said 
he, he would not thank any one for such 
a bride as they had got; he could have 
had either of the little twins, but he 
wouldn’t take them. Louise Habermann, 
too, might go to Jericho, for him. He 
would not be a fool, to pick the first good 
plum, for the first plums were always 
wormy ; he would wait till they were all 
properly ripe, and then he could take his 
choice from the upper or the lower 
branches ; and, meanwhile, all the little 
maidens who ran about the world on their 
pretty feet belonged to him, and then he 
was going to have a horse, and the very 
next day he would go and buy the ’Whale- 
bone mare of Gust Prebberow. 

# 

CHAPTER XX. 

A couple of weeks had passed, which 
Axel, instead of acquainting himself with 
his fields, and the management of his 
estate, spent, for the most part, with 
Flegel, the wheel-wright, in his work shop. 
The model of his new machine had arrived, 
which was to plough, harrow, and break 
clods, all at the same time, and he must set 
it at work, for himself and for the Avorld. 
Letters and accounts, and other business 
in the way of writing, incident to a large 
estate, must naturally be postponed ; and 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


123 


when he came into the house to dinner or 
supper, he had an important air, as if he 
must show his young wife what progress 
he was making in husbandry. And who is 
more credulous than a young wife? a 
bride, perhaps ? Oh, no ! a bride is un- 
certain, she is feeling and inquiring round, 
she wishes to learn to know the man she 
loves ; but when she believes that she has 
learned to kuow him, and has given him 
her hand for life, then she becomes secure, 
and follows him blindly, until the bandage 
is forcibly torn from her eyes, and even 
then, she turns away, and strives not to 
see, and thinks it her duty not to believe 
what she cannot help seeing. It was noth- 
ing wicked which he concealed from her, 
it was merely follies, and he himself be- 
lieved that in future he should be active 
and diligent ; but it was a pity that he did 
not understand, and she did not under- 
stand ; for, with all her clear eyes and her 
clear head, she had no idea but it was the 
same with him as with herself, who went 
about looking into kitchen and cellar, into 
milk-house and butter-room, learning how 
to take the charge of the housekeeping 
into her own hands. 

But everything has its' time, and old 
Kopf, the shepherd, used to say, “ On the 
ninth day, puppies got their eyes open.” 
She was walking one day, towards evening 
in the garden, under the shade of the high 
enclosure which separated it from that 
part of the farm-yard, where the work-shop 
was situated ; and, as she went thought- 
fully up and down, she heard, on the other 
side of the fence, a scolding and disputing, 
as if two people were having a quarrel: 
“ So ? That doesn’t suit you ? Do you 
think it suits me ? Rascal, what lies in 
my way ? What are you doing here ? I 

would like ” Bang ! went something 

against the door. She became curious, 
and peeped through the fence ; but saw 
only one man, that was the old wheel- 
wright, Fritz Flegel, and there was no- 
body with him, at the moment, and he was 
carrying on the scolding and arguing with 
his tools and his work. Such a passion in 
a person entirely alone is very amusing, 
and the young Frau looked on, with laugh- 
ing eyes as the old man went on cursing 
and scolding : “ The devil take you, for all 
me! shall I go crazy over you?” bang! 
bang ! he threw his tools about the shop, 
and through the half-open door, and then 
thrust his hands into his hair, and tossed it 
about his head. Then he stood still again, 
staring down at the ground. “ Infamous 
creature ! making me so much trouble and 
misery ! ” 


“ Good evening, Father ! ” said another 
voice, and Kegel, the day-laborer, came in, 
and stood leaning on his shovel, “ what are 
you working here for ? it is evening.” 

‘‘Working, do you say? Here is some- 
thing to work at ! Say to torment one, 
rather. What ? Do you call that a model ? 
I can work very well after a model, but 
the devil himself couldn’t work after such 
a model as that.” 

“ Is that the same old beast, you had be- 
gun on, the other day ? ” 

“ What else should it be ? You may ask 
me next summer, if it is finished ! ” 

“He must have a clever head, though, 
to think out such things as that.” 

“ So ? Do you think so ? let me tell you 
any blockhead can think out things, but 
the difficulty is to make them. You see, 
there are three sorts of people in the 
world ; one understands things, but can- 
not make them, and the second can make 
them, but don’t understand them, and the 
third can neither make nor understand, 
and he belongs to the last class,” — here 
he threw a wedge against the door,^r- “ and 
that is why he torments a fellow so ! ” 

“ Yes, Father, that is so, he doesn’t un- 
derstand. You know, he said we were to 
go straight to him, if we wanted anything ; 
well I went to him, and told him about the 
potato-land, how I wanted some more, and 
he said he knew nothing about such mat- 
ters, he would speak to our old man about 
it. If he comes to him, I may wait long 
enough, for he knows that I let the hoe- 
ing go by.” 

“ The old man for me ! he stands by his 
word ; he says to me, Flegel, cut me out a 
plough-board; and I do it, and he says, 
Flegel, the wheels must have new felloes, 
and I put them on, and I have nothing to 
worry about ; but with him ! You will 
see, neighbor, he will lie in the nettles, and 
we shall lie in the nettles too.” 

“ That is so,” said Kegel, “ my potato- 
patch lies in the nettles, already.” 

“ Yes,” said Flegel, shutting the door, 
and pulling on his jacket, “but it serves 
you right ! If you have no potatoes it is 
your own fault, because you did not hoe 
them ; and if the inspector should give you 
more land, it would not help you.” 

“ That is true,” said Kegel shouldering 
his spade, and going off with Flegel, “ it 
wouldn’t help, especially towards filling 
the children’s mouths, yet I might help 
myself by means of it.” 

' People say, and it is true, that praise 
from the mouth of a child, or the humblest 
person, is pleasing to the wisest and most 
distinguished; but it is just as true that a 


124 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


hard judgment, from the same insignificant 
source, is painful, and especially painful 
when it concerns one whom we hold dear. 
And what had happened ? It was only the 
gossip of laborers, such as often occurs 
among ignorant people ; but the smile had 
gone from the young wife’s eyes, and a 
look of vexation found place there. Her 
husband’s insight, and his good will to 
carry out what he had promised in his 
speech, were called in question, and it all 
came from this, that he had not grown up 
to the business he had undertaken. 

She was out of humor, when she came in 
to supper, and he was gay, so that their 
moods were discordant. 

“ So, dear Frida,” said he, “ now we are 
comfortably settled, I think it is time for 
us to make our visits in the neighbor- 
hood.” 

“ Yes, Axel, but to whom ? ” 

“ Well, I think first our nearest neigh- 
bors.” 

“ Our Pastor, first of all.” 

“ Why yes, there, too, — later.” 

“ Who else is there, in the neighbor- 
hood ? ” asked the young wife, reckoning 
over as if thinking aloud, “the landlord 
Pomuchelskopp, and the pachter* Niiss- 
ler.” 

“ Dear Frida,” said Axel, looking more 
serious, “you must be jesting about the 
pachter Niissler, we can have no inter- 
course with pachter people.” 

“ I do not agree with you,” said Frida, 
quietly, “ I look more at the man, than at 
his rank. It may not be the same here, as 
with us, in Prussia; but in my father’s 
house, we were intimate with several 
pachter families, why not here? Frau 
Niissler seems to be a very nice woman.” 

“My inspector’s sister. I cannot visit 
her ; it would not be suitable.” 

“ But the landlord Pomuchelskopp ? ” 

“ Of course ; the man is a proprietor, is 
wealthy, is a deputy, as well as myself — ” 

“ And is notorious, in the whole region, 
and his wife yet more so. No, Axel, I 
shall not visit there.” 

“ My dear child ” 

“ No, Axel. If the pachter Niissler had 
bought the Gurlitz estate, would he be an- 
other person, and would you visit him ? ” 

“ That has nothing to do with the case. 
I shall not visit the pachter,” said Axel, 
angrily. 

“ Nor I the landlord, I have an aversion 
to the family,” said Frida, putting down 
her trump, also. 

“ Frida ! ” begged Axel. 

* A Pachter is one who rents a farm. 


“ No, Axel,” said she, decidedly, “ I will 
go with you to Gurlitz, to-morrow, but 1 
shall stop at the Pastor’s.” 

That was the conclusion ; there was no 
quarrel about it, but each remained fixed 
in the same decision. How readily and 
gladly would she have yielded, if she had 
not sat down to supper with the uneasy 
feeling that Axel was lacking in insight to 
understand a business, and in firmness to 
carry it out ; and how readily and gladly 
would Axel have yielded, and stayed away 
from Pomuchelskopp’s, if it had not been 
always in his mind that Pomuchelskopp 
was a rich man, and he must keep on good 
terms with him, because he might be use- 
ful; how readily and gladly he would 
have called at the Niisslers’, but for the 
foolish opinions he had imbibed, in his 
regiment. 

But it was done ; and could not be un- 
done, the first beginning of discord had 
entered the house, and the door stood half- 
open for the rest to follow ; for discord is 
like one of those dragon’s tails that chil- 
dren play with, there is a long thread, and 
bit after bit is fastened to it, and though 
each bit is a mere nothing, it makes a 
great bunch, when it is rolled up in a heap, 
and it is hard to disentangle, for there is 
neither beginning nor end to be found. 

The next afternoon they walked over to 
Gurlitz ; — in that, Axel had yielded to 
Frida, who preferred walking to riding, — 
and Axel took his wife to the door of the 
parsonage, and promised to call for her ; 
he himself went to the court. 

The Pomuchelskopps were just taking 
coffee, and Philipping and Nanting and 
the other little ones were playing their 
tricks, and standing about the table, like 
colts at the rack, and dipping biscuits in 
the chicory-coffee, and smearing their 
faces, and dabbling with fingers and tea 
spoons in the cups, after the soaked bis- 
cuit, and writing their beautiful name, 
“ Pomuchelskopp,” in the spilt coffee and 
milk, all over the table, and shoving and 
pushing each other, and then looking up 
innocently at their mother, as if they were 
not the culprits; for Hauning, in her 
every-day black gown, sat with them at 
the table, and kept order. 

It was a charming family picture, full 
of domestic happiness, biscuits and chicory ; 
and Pomuchelskopp lay in the corner of 
the sofa, and smoked his pipe. He had 
finished his coffee, for father was served 
first, with pure coffee, out of a special 
coffee-pot ; but it was a cheat, after all, 
for Malchen and Salchen, who took turns 
in making the coffee, always drank off the 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


first drawing from father’s, and filled it up 
with chicory, out of the family pot. He 
sat in his sofa corner, with his left leg 
thrown over the right, quite in accordance 
with Duke Adolph von Klewe’s direction : 
“A judge should sit for judgment in this 
manner, with the left leg thrown over the 
right,” etc, and if he was not a judge, he 
was something more important, at this 
very moment he was a law-maker, and 
thinking about the Landtag, (assembly 
of deputies,) which he had positively de- 
cided to attend next year. 

“ Hauning,” said he, “ next year, I am 
going to the Landtag.” 

“ So ? ” said the old woman, “ have you 
no other way to spend your money ? ” 

“ My Klricking, it is expected of me ; 
I must show myself, and it will not be 
very expensive. The Landtag is held 
quite near us next year, at Malchen, and 
if I take a basket with me ” 

“ So ? and I shall go round in your 
boots meantime, wading through the deep 
mud in the farm-yard, to look after the 
threshers ? ” 

“My Kliicking, Gustaving is here for 
that, and if I am needed I can be here 
again, at any time.” 

“But, father,” said Malchen, who "was 
the only one of the family who ever looked 
into the Rostock “ Times,” and for that 
reason, and because she always knew 
where the Grand Duke and the Frau 
Grand Duchess were, at the time being, 
considered herself to have a great taste 
for politics, for Pomuchelskopp read only 
the prices current, and the rate of ex- 
change, — “but, father, if something im- 
portant should come up, for instance about 
the red cloak, whether you burgher-pro- 
prietors may also wear red cloaks, or 
about the convent question, then you 
couldn’t get away.” 

For she possibly had a feeling, that the 
convent question might become her ques- 
tion. 

“Now, you do not really think,” said 
Pomuchelskopp, going up and down the 
room with great strides, “ that your father 
would make himself so common, and run 
in the same groove with all the burgher 
proprietors, and vote with them, and neg- 
lect his affairs at home ? No, if anything 
is wanted here, you must write, and I will 
come, and if I want the red cloak, I know 
a better way to get it — let every man 
look out for himself — - and it is more hon- 
orable for me, if I get it alone, and not 
with trumpery landlords, who have per- 
haps a couple of thousand thalers, and 
when I come back sometime, and say, 


125 

Malchen, I alone have got it ! then you 
may be proud of your father ; ” and with 
that he stalked about the room, and puffed 
tobacco in the eyes of his innocent chil- 
dren, till they looked like trumpeting 
angels in the clouds, who needed only a 
mouth-piece, with which to trumpet his 
future glory. 

. “ Kopp, are you going daft ? ” inquired 
his loving wife. 

“ Let me alone, Hauning ! Always 
noble ! Tell me who you go with, and I 
will tell you who you are. If I agree with 
the nobility ” 

“ I should think you had got snubbing 
enough from tke nobility.” 

“ Hauning,” began Pomuschelskopp, but 
went no further, for Salchen, who sat by 
the window, sewing, sprang up : “ Good 
heavens ! there comes the Herr von Ram- 
bow into the yard.” 

“Hauning,” said Pomuchelskopp once 
more, and there was great reproof in his 
expressive eyes, “ do you see the nobleman 
comes to me. But now, out with you! 
Out ! ” and he hunted his offspring out of 
the room. “ Malchen, take the coffee 
things away 1 Salchen, a wiping cloth ! 
And Hauning,” folding his hands in sup- 
plication, “now go and put on another 
dress ! ” 

“What?” said she, “do I go to him, or 
does he come to me ? I am good enough 
for him, as he finds me.” 

“ Hauning,” begged Pomuchelskopp, ab- 
jectly, “ I beseech you 1 you will spoil the 
whole thing with your black morning 
dress.” 

“ Muchel, are you a perfect idiot ? ” she 
asked, not stirring from her seat, “ Do you 
think he comes on your account, or on 
mine, either ? He comes because he wishes 
to make use of us, and, for such a beggar, 
the old sacque is good enough.” 

Muchel still petitioned, — vainly. Mal- 
chen and Salchen whisked out of the room, 
to dress themselves up a little, — the old 
woman sat there, stiff as a stake. 

Axel came in, and greeted the pair, and 
the old black sacque received as much at- 
tention as the green checked trousers, for 
the young Herr knew how to turn his good 
manners to account, at the right time, so 
that Pomuchelskopp was quite carried 
away with the friendliness and gracious- 
ness of the young nobleman, and Hauning 
became so cheerful and affectionate that 
she called her dear husband “Poking;” 
yes, even the old every-day black gown 
grew so ashamed of its own shabbiness, 
in this sunshine of courtesy, that even to 
Frau Pomuchelskopp ’s eyes, it looked quite 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


126 

rusty. And now Salchen came in, as if 
she had forgotten something, and then 
Malchen came in, as if she had something 
to attend to, and Pomuchelskopp intro- 
duced them, and the courteous conversa- 
tion took an artistic turn, over Salchen’s 
embroidery, and again a political, as Mal- 
chen happened to take up the Rostock 
“ Times.” And Philipping came in, and 
placed himself in the corner, behind his 
mother, and Narting came in, and stood 
by Philipping, and the other little ones all 
came in, one after another, and crowded 
up beside them, till Hauning looked like 
our old black hen, with all her chickens 
huddled about her, when a hawk is in the 
air. And when mother took the key of 
the linen-closet out of the basket, and 
went out, — for, she said to herself, one 
must do something in return for so much 
courtesy, — the whole brood followed her, 
for in that linen-closet were kept the cook- 
ies, which Hauning always kept on hand, 
and baked fresh, twice a year. And these 
cookies were always very fine, only they 
acquired, in course of time, rather a soapy 
taste, as they took the flavor from the 
linen; but that didn’t hurt them for the 
children, they were not fastidious, and had 
always been accustomed to the flavor, and 
if Axel had not been listening to Pomuchel- 
skopp, he must have heard the begging and 
whining outside ; “ Mother, me 1 ” “ Mother, 
me too 1 ” But Pomuchelskopp had taken 
possession of him, and was endeavoring to 
inspire him with a good opinion of himself 
and his family. 

“ You see, Herr von Rambow,” said he, 
“ you find here an extremely simple family, 
I am very simple, my wife — ” here he 
looked round to see if Hauning were pres- 
ent — “ is extremely simple, as you have 
seen ; my daughters, my other children, 
have been brought up very simply. We 
make no pretensions, we merely live by 
ourselves, in a happy family-circle. Every 
society does not suit us, thank God, we are 
sufficient to ourselves ; but,” he added, 
putting on a venerable patriarchal expres- 
sion, “ every one must pull his own rope, 
each has his particular occupation, which 
he must attend to, — must, I say, when he 
has once undertaken it, and then the bless- 
ing of God will not be wanting.” 

Axel said, courteously, he believed that 
must be an excellent arrangement. 

“Yes,” said Pomuchelskopp, catching 
hold of Philipping, who had his mouth full 
of eight and ninety per cent cooky, and 
two per cent fresh soap, and presenting him 
to the young Herr : “ Make your compli- 
ments, Philipping ! You see this little fel- 


low, he looks after the eggs, that is to say, 
when the hens lay astray ; for every dozen 
eggs, he gets a shilling, and the money 
goes into his saving’s box. Philipping, how 
much have you collected, already, my little 
son ? ” 

“ Seven thalers, and forty-three shil- 
lings,”* said Philipping. 

“ You see, my boy,” said Pomuchelskopp, 
patting his child on the head, “ the blessing 
of God always accompanies industry ; and 
so,” turning again to Axel, “ Nanting has 
old iron, nails, horse-shoes, etc., he gets paid 
for it by the pound, and Marriken andHein- 
ing and Stoffing have the apples and pears 
and plums, that is, the wind falls ; to be 
sure, they are mostly unripe, but no mat- 
ter, the city people buy them. So you see, 
Herr von Rambow, each one of my children 
has his own apartment.” 

Axel laughed in his sleeve a little, at this 
conclusion, and Malchen and Salchen looked 
at each other, and laughed secretly over 
their father’s blunder, for Pomuchelskopp 
slipped occasionally, as well as Briisig ; but 
there was a great difference between the 
two. Brasig knew very well that he made 
queer work of foreign words, but he had 
fallen into the habit of using them, and 
could not leave off, it pleased him, and in- 
jured nobody else ; but Pomuchelskopp 
meant to ornament his language with them, 
and when he found that he had said some- 
thing ludicrous, he was out of humor. 
When he saw his daughters laughing to- 
gether, he knew this was the case, and it 
was fortunate that his Hauning came in, 
just then, with a bottle of wine, and a 
plate of cookies, and, to his joy, without 
her black sacque, in a yellow silk gown, 
and with a stately cap on her head. 

“Hauning,” said Pomuchelskopp, “not 
that wine ! When we have such a highly 
honored guest, let us offer him the best we 
have 1 ” 

“ Order it yourself, then,” said the old 
woman, curtly. He did so, and then re- 
sumed the thread of his discourse : 

“ Yes, and my two eldest daughters have 
also each her peculiar province. Salchen 
is all for art, with her embroidery and 
piano-playing, and Malchen cares more for 
the newspapers and politics.” Axel pro- 
fessed to be astonished at Malchen’s taking 
pleasure in such things, which ladies usi> 
ally cared nothing about, and Malchen re- 
plied, somebody must trouble themselves 
about such things, for father wouldn’t, and 
now he was a deputy, he ought to know 

* A Mecklenburg Schilling is equal to an Eng- 
lish penny. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


what was going to be done at the Landtag, 
adding that, just as Herr yon Rainbow 
came in, they were saying that father must 
go to the Landtag next year.” 

“ Yes, Herr von Rambow,” said Muchel, 
“ I am going, for once ; not on account of 
the business which my burgher colleagues 
are moving about, that does not concern 
me, and I know the difference between no- 
bles and burghers, very well ; no ! I am 
only going for once, to show people who I 
am.” 

Axel then asked, for sake of saying 
something, if Pomuchelskopp had any in” 
tercourse with the people in the neighbor- 
hood. 

“ With which of them ? ” asked Pomu- 
chelskopp. “ With the farmer at Rexow V 
He is a blockhead. With the inspector? 
He does not suit me. And there is no- 
body else about here.” 

“Then you don’t associate with the 
Pastor ? 

“ No, not with him either. He has be- 
haved in such a manner from the first, 
that I would have nothing to do with him ; 
he has intercourse with people who do not 
suit me, and he has adopted the daughter 
of your inspector, Habermann, and I 
should be sorry for my daughters to have 
any acquaintance with her. 

“ I thought she was a very worthy girl,” 
said Axel. 

“ Oh, yes, I dare say,” said Pomuchels- 
kopp. “I don’t want to say anything 
bad of the girl, — you see, Herr von Ram- 
bow, I am a simple old man, — but I knew 
Habermann long ago, I will not say that 
he cheated me at that time, but — no ! I 
have not been pleased at the way and the 
manner in which she and the young Herr 
von Rambow have been brought together, 
by her own father, and the parsonage peo- 
ple.” 

“ With my cousin Franz ? ” asked Axel. 

“Is his name Franz? I mean the one 
who was studying here, with Habermann. 

I don’t know him, he never came to my 
house. But I liked what I heard about 
him.” 

“He is always writing to her,” said 
Hauning. 

“No, mother,” said Malchen, “you 
mustn’t say that, his letters are always to 
the Pastor. Our post-boy always brings 
the Pastor’s letters with ours,” she ex- 
plained to Axel. 

“ That is all the same,” said Hauning, 
“I beat the sack, but I mean it for the 
donkey.” 

“This is the first I have heard of the 
matter,” said Axel, looking annoyed. 


127 

“ Yes 1 ” said Pomuchelskopp, “ the 
whole region knows it. Under the pre- 
tence of visiting her father and vour sis- 
ters, she was always running after him, 
and when something came between them 
once, Habermann and the parsonage peo- 
ple soon made it right again.” 

“ No, father,” said Salchen, “ old Brasig 
was the chief canal, he was always 
fetching and carrying.” 

“ Who is this old Brasig ? ” asked Axel, 
now really irritated. 

“ He is an old beggar ! ” cried Hauning. 

“ That he is,” said Pomuchelskopp, puff- 
ing himself up, “ he has ^ot a little pen- 
sion from the Herr Count, and now he has 
nothing better to do than to run from one 
to another, and tell tales of people ; and 
then he is besides ” 

“ No, father,” interrupted Malchen, “ let 
me tell that. Herr von Rambow, the old 
fellow is a democrat, an out and out dem- 
o-crat ! ” 

“ That he is,” continued Pomuchelskopp, 

“ and I shouldn’t wonder if he was an in- 
cendiary as well.” 

And this good-for-nothing subject had 
sat at Axel’s own table, and whose fault 
was it? Habermann’s. These communi- 
cations having sufficiently heated the 
young gentleman’s blood, and the cookies 
not being very tempting, he took leave and 
Pomuchelskopp went with him across the 
yard, to the gate. 

“ Is that really true, about my cousin ? ” 
asked Axel, as they went out together. 

“ Herr von Rambow,” said Pomuchels- 
kopp, “ I am a simple old man, and at my 
age, one does not trouble himself about 
such stories. I merely tell you what peo- 
ple say.” 

“ It can be only a passing fancy ; ‘ out 
of sight, out of mind.’ ” 

“ I don’t believe that,” said Pomuchels- 
kopp, very seriously ; “ so far as I know 
Habermann, he is a crafty old serpent, 
who always keeps a definite end in view. 
Your Herr Cousin is caught.” 

“ The boy must be crazy,” said Axel, 

“ but he will be obliged to listen to reason. 
Farewell, Herr Neighbor ! I thank you for 
your company so far, and hope to see you 
soon. Adieu ! ” and with that he turned 
towards the right, into the street. 

“ Begging your pardon,” called Pomu- 
chelskopp after him, “ you are going the 
wrong way ; you turn to the left to go to 
Pumpelhagen.” 

« I know it,” said Axel, “ I am going to 
the Pastor’s, to call for my wife. Adieu ! ” 

“ Ah,” said Pomuchelskopp, going back 
across the yard, “ this is very nice, this ia 


128 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


very pretty ! For the young Herr, I am 
good enough ; but for the gracious lady ? 
Children ! ” cried he, as he entered the 
door, “the gracious lady is at the Herr 
Pastor’s, we are not good enough for her.” 

“ That pleases me, uncommonly, Poking,” 
said the old woman, “ that the nobleman 
has put such a fine pair of leather specta- 
cles on you.” 

“ Is it possible ! ” exclaimed Salchen. 

“ Possible indeed 1 ” said her father, “ it 
is certain ; ” and he gave Nanting and Phil- 
ipping, who were running about, the re- 
mainder of the cookies, one apiece : “ Out 
with you, baggages 1 ” and he threw him- 
self into the sofa corner, and struck at the 
flies ; and the old woman teased him with 
invidious remarks about distinguished ac- 
quaintances, and beggars, and the nobility, 
and said, “ Salchen, take that bottle of 
costly wine back to the cellar ; there is 
some in it still, father can treat some 
highly honored friend with it.” And after 
a while she called, “ Father, come here to 
the window I See, there goes your distin- 
guished friend, with his gracious lady — 
the foolish fellow I and who have they 
with them? Your incendiary, that old 
Br'asig 1 ” 

It was really so : Br'asig was walking 
with the pair, towards Pumpelhagen, and 
it did not trouble him in the least that 
Axel turned a cold shoulder on him, and 
gave him very short answers, for he was 
taking his delight in the gracious lady, 
whom he had met at the Pastor’s, and 
whom he had found still more pleasing to- 
day than at the dinner. 

And she might well have pleased him, 
or have pleased any body, as she came in, 
so’ friendly and confiding, to the Frau Pas- 
tor’s parlor, where he sat with the old 
Herr Pastor, who was lying half sick upon 
the sofa ; as she held back the old gentle- 
man, who would have risen in honor of 
her visit, and, laying her two hands on the 
little Frau Pastorin’s shoulders, asked if 
she would be mother-confessor to one who 
was a stranger, and needed good advice, 
and then turned to Br'asig, and shook 
hands with him as frankly, as if he were 
an old acquaintance. And then Louise 
came in, and she greeted her also as an 
old acquaintance, but kept looking at her, 
as if there were something new to be read 
in her face, and grew thoughtful, as one 
who reads a beautiful book, and will not 
turn the leaf, until he fully comprehends 
it. 

The young Frau had many leaves to 
turn here, and upon every leaf stood some- 
thing lovely and intelligent ; on the Pas- 


tor’s side, stood experience, and friendli- 
ness and benevolence, and on the Frau 
Pastorin’s stood housewifery, and enjoy- 
ment of life, and the kindest disposition, 
crossed over each other, and on Louise’s 
stood modesty, and good sense, and pleas- 
ure at meeting a lady who bore that name 
which had become so dear to her ; and on 
Brasig’s side, stood at first sight, only 
notes on the whole, but they belonged to 
the matter, and made it clearer, and the 
young Frau read these notes with as' 
much pleasure as we sluggards used, for- 
merly, on the pons asinorum, or ad modum 
Minellii, in Cornelius Nepos. And it all 
harmonized together, so sweetly and inno- 
cently, and there was such love and joy- 
ousness, that the gracious young lady felt 
as if she stood among a group of pretty 
children, in a lovely garden, under cool 
shadows of old trees, dancing Kringel- 
kranz, and Louise stood in the ring, and 
reached her hand towards her, saying, 

“ Come, now you must release me I ” 

Into this lovely peace Axel came, full of 
annoyance at the story that had been 
trumpeted in his ears, and vexed at having 
to call for his wife among such people, and 
Brasig’s greeting, “ Good day, Herr Lieu- 
tenant ! ” quite overflowed the measure of 
his good temper. He turned shortly to 
the Pastor, and made some indifferent re- 
mark about the weather, hut so coldly, 
that his manner struck like an icicle to the 
warm heart of his wife, and she sprang up, 
hastily, to take leave, that all this warm 
friendliness should not be chilled, as by a 
shower of hail in summer. 

They went, but Uncle Br'asig went too, 
not at all disturbed by the young Herr’s 
discourtesy ; he had done nothing, and he 
had a good conscience, and withal he had 
a great opinion of his ability in entertain- 
ing people, and putting them in a good 
humour, when they were vexed. He 
limped along, therefore, by the young lieu- 
tenant, and talked to him of this and that, 
but did not succeed in changing the young 
Herr’s short and cutting replies to more 
friendly remarks. But as the young Herr 
stopped, where the church path joined the 
street, and asked him which way he would 
go, it shot through his head, for the first 
time, that the “ confounded fool ” might 
think he wished to force himself upon 
them. 

“Listen to me, Herr Lieutenant,” said 
he also standing still, “ this strikes me as 
very strange. Perhaps you are ashamed 
to be seen walking with me, in the public 
street? Then let me tell you, I was not 
going on your account, I was only going 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


129 


with your honored, gracious lady wife, 
because, she is friendly towards me. In 
future, I will not incommode you,” and, 
with a profound bow to the young lady, 
he started off across the rape-stubble, to 
Habermann, who was building a stack of 
rape-straw, near by. 

“ Axel,” said Frida, “ why have you 
grieved that good-hearted old man ? ” 

“ Your good-hearted old man is nothing 
but an old tattler and busybody.” 

“ Do you really believe that ? and do 
you think, if he were, our Habermann 
would be on such intimate terms with 
him ? ” 

“ Why not, if he is useful to him ? ” 

The young wife looked at him half as- 
tonished, half grieved : “ Axel, what is the 
matter with you ? You were always so 
friendly towards everybody, and trusted 
everybody, what has prejudiced you so 
against these people ? against these, too, 
who have always been so friendly and 
honest towards us ? ” 

“ Friendly ? Why shouldn’t they ? I am 
the master of the estate. But honest ? 
Time will show, and what I have heard to- 
day, does not agree very well with my 
conception of honesty.” 

“ What have you heard ? From whom 
have you heard it ? ” asked Frida, quickly 
and meaningly. “ Tell me, Axel ! I am 
your wife.” 

“ I have heard a good deal,” said Axel, 
in a derisive tone, “I have heard, that our 
Habermann, as you call him, has already 
been a bankrupt ; and the best thing I 
heard about him was that he perverted 
the influence that he exercised as an in- 
structor, to fasten his daughter — with 
the help of the parsonage people and this 
old go-between, whom I have just got rid 
of — to our cousin Franz, and ” — he added, 
angrily and spitefully, “ the stupid dunce 
has let himself be caught ! ” 

Frida boiled over with indignation ; by 
this detraction, not merely that poor child, 
Louise Habermann, but her whole sex was 
wounded to the heart, and put to shame ; 
her eyes kindled, as she grasped Axel by 
arm, and made him stand still: “You 
have been in bad company, and have 
yielded to the most unworthy influences I ” 
Her hands loosed their hold, the anger 
passed, and a deep sadness came over her. 

“ Oh, Axel,” cried she, “ you used to be so 
good, how can such insinuations disturb 
your honest judgment ? ” 

Axel was startled at the heat with 
which his wife took up the matter, he 
would gladly have taken back what he 
had said ; but he had said it, and if he 
9 


should make light of it now, he would 
seem to himself like a credulous, easily 
prejudiced man, and he wished to seem a 
decided one, so he took nothing back, but 
said, “ Frida, what ails you ? There is no 
denying the matter. The whole region 
knows that our foolish cousin has entangled 
himself with this girl.” 

“If you will express this part of your 
news differently, if you say that your cous- 
in has fallen in love with this girl, I shall 
be glad to believe it, and your cousin, 
whom I do not yet know, will be so much 
the dearer to me.” 

“What? Shall my cousin, who has a 
large, independent fortune, marry the 
daughter of my inspector ? ” 

“ That is the greatest advantage of a 
large, independent fortune for a young 
man, that he is free to choose ; and, truly ! 
he has not chosen unworthily.” 

“ And so I shall be connected with my 
inspector, in a sort of family relationship, 
and this old busybody, who has tied and 
twisted, and knotted the match, shall tri- 
umph? I will never, never consent to 
such a thing ! ” 

“ See here ! ” cried Frida, “ it is in this 
part of your news, that the lies and cal- 
umny are interwoven ; how is it possible 
for you to believe such an unlikely accu- 
sation? How can you — to say nothing 
of this lovely, innocent girl — suspect 
such a simple, old man, such an affec- 
tionate father, who -finds his own hap- 
piness only in that of his daughter, — ■ 
how can you suspect the worthy Pastor 
and his kind-hearted wife, or this poor old 
man, who has just left us, feeling so 
grieved, and to whom, in his uprightness, 
many an inappropriate word may be par- 
doned, — how can you suspect these peo- 
ple, of making the darling of their hearts 
the object of a speculation ! ” 

“ Oh, that is very easily understood,” 
said Axel, “they wanted to insure her 
happiness.” 

“ Oh,” said Frida earnestly and sadly, 

“ then we differ widely in our conception 
of happiness. One never obtains happi- 
ness in such ways.” 

“I was not speaking of my idea of 
happiness,” said Axel, surprised at the 
reproach, “ I meant only what these peo- 
ple consider happiness.” 

“ Do not deceive yourself in this, Axel, 
for God’s sake, do not deceive yourself!” 
A higher rank may afford one a wider 
range in social relations, but in more mod- 
est circumstances, on the other hand, love 
is more apt to be the controlling power, 
which is of far higher value than mere 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


130 

worldly relations, — and which we must so 
often do without,” she added slowly, and 
wiped a tear from her eye, as she thought 
of her own youthful years, without a 
mother, brought up by her father alone, 
who could poorly sustain the style of 
living demanded by his rank, and con- 
soled himself, for his trouble and pains, 
in the amusements of country squires. 

They went home, and Axel was kind to 
her, in his good nature, and she took the 
kindness as it was meant, and they were 
again united, — at least to outward appear- 
ance, — for on the subject of discussion 
each retained his own opinion. 

Brasig had gone to Habermann, who 
was standing by the foundation of his 
straw-stack; he was angry, exceedingly 
angry ; this must be Pomuchelskopp’s 
work ; and his irritation conld only be put 
out by a counter-irritation, he had a real 
hankering after a little farm-boy anger. 

“ Good day, Karl,” said he, and pushing 
by Habermann, he bent his head, elevated 
his eyebrows, looked hard at the stack, 
and without raising himself up, stalked 
entirely round it. 

“Are you going to bake a pancake, 
here?” he asked his friend, when he had 
completed his journey, and placed himself 
saucily before him. 

“ Ah, don’t talk to me about it ! ” cried 
Habermann, out of humor, “ I have vexed 
myself enough over it. I said yesterday 
to Triddlesitz he should lay the stack 
twenty paces through-measure, and he has 
laid it twenty paces half-measure, and, 
when I came out to-day, here stood this 
monster. Well, let it go ; it is nothing 
but straw, even if it should get spoiled 
by the rain ; but I cannot help being pro- 
voked to see such a pancake on my field.” 

“ Yes, Karl, and your neighbor Po- 
muchelskopp will be cracking his jokes on 
it.” 

“Let him! But what to do with my 
Triddelsitz, I don’t know. Since the time 
that the young Herr promised him a horse, 
he is of no mortal use.” 

“ Try giving him a good flogging ! ” 

“ Ach, what good would that do ? He 
can think of nothing but horses. He 
doesn’t consult me, now-a-days, but our 
young Herr has advised him to get an 
English brood mare, and says he will buy 
the colts. And I sent him off this morn- 
ing, — he is not to be talked out of it, — 
to make an end of the matter, and get 
his old mare.” 

“ Gust Prebberow’s chestnut mare, the 
Whalebone mare ? ” 

“ Yes, that must be the one.” 


“ Splendid ! ” cried Brasig, “ Beautiful ! 
And he will exercise about on this horse, 
when the Grand Duke enters Rahnstadt ? 
Karl, you have a great treasure in your 
greyhound ! ” 

“Yes, Lord knows,” said Habermann, 
looking at his stack. 

“ I say nothing of him as a farmer, Karl, 
I speak of him merely as an agreeable 
fellow, and if he agrees with his young 
master ” 

“ Brasig, don’t speak of my master here, 
before the laborers.” 

“ I agree with you there, Karl, it is not 
proper ; but come this way ! ” 

And when they had gone a little way 
towards the street, he stood still, and said, 
slowly and impressively, “ Karl, this young 
fellow thought it something to be ashamed 
of, to be seen walking with me on the 
highway. What do you say now? He 
gave me a Timothy, in the presence of his 
lovely wife ; ” and he related the circum- 
stances. Habermann tried to talk him out 
of his auger, but did not wholly succeed, 
for Brasig was too much provoked. 
“ Karl,” said he, “ he has shot the arrow, 
in his stupidity, but it was pointed by 
Zamel Pomuchelskopp, for he had been 
calling there. And you may say what you 
will, Karl, — your young Herr is down- 
right stupid, and when you are hunted 
away, then I shall amuse myself coming 
over here, and place myself on the hill, 
where I can overlook the fields, and see 
what sort of performances your young 
Herr and your greyhound carry on to- 
gether.” 

“ Well,” said Habermann, “you can see 
one of them, at this moment. Just look 
round!” and he pointed down the road, 
near which they happened to be standing, 
behind a thorn-bush. Brasig looked, and 
stood stiff and stark with amazement, 
unable to utter a word ; at last he said, 
“ Karl, your greyhound is cracked. Apoth- 
ecaries are often crackbrained, and it is 
natural their children should inherit it.” 

It really looked, as if Brasig were right. 
Fritz came riding up, on the famous horse, 
on a gentle trot. He had taken off his 
hat, and was swinging it violently in the 
air, and shouting with all his might, 
“ Hurrah ! Hurrah ! ” and all this, entirely 
by himself; for he did not perceive the 
two behind the thorn-bush, until he had 
ridden up to them, and Habermann asked 
if he were clean out of his head. 

“ They are nothing but lies,” said 
Fritz. 

“What are lies?” asked Habermann, 
sharply. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


“ That the mare cannot hear hurrahs,” 
and with that he began to cry “ Hurrah ! ” 
again. “ You see,” and he sprang off the 
horse, and tied it to a willow, and going 
off a few steps, again cried “ Hurrah ! ” 
“You see, she does not budge an inch. 
And you ” — he turned to Brasig, who was 
half dead with laughter, “ you told me so ; 
but it isn’t true ! ” 

“ Yes,” said Brasig, shaking all over, 
“but it is true, though. What I said, 1 
say again : she cannot hear it, for the old 
granny has been, these five years that I 
have known her, stone deaf.” 

There stood Fritz Triddelsitz, the old 
clever, crafty Fritz Triddelsitz, wearing 
the most sheepish face imaginable. 

“ But,” said he, at last, “ Gust Prebberow 
is a good friend of mine, and he never told 
me that.” 

“ Yes,” said Brasig, “ you will know, 
after this, that friendship goes for nothing, 
in a horse trade.” 

“Well, never mind, Triddelsitz,” said 
Habermann, “one can get along with a 


131 

deaf horse ; take care not to get a dumb 
one ! ” 

“ Oh ! ” said Fritz, quite relieved, “ no 
fear of that! Just look at her, what a 
model of a horse ! Full blood ! And 
Herr von Rambow is going to buy all the 
colts, and when I have sold three or 
four ” 

“Then you can buy an estate,” inter- 
rupted Brasig. “ Yes, we know that, 
already. Now ride carefully up to the 
house, and don’t upset your milk-pails, on 
the way, like the maiden. Karl, do you 
remember ? In Gellert V ” 

Fritz rode off. “ Good-for-nothing grey- 
hound ! ” said Brasig. 

“ Well, I don’t know,” said Habermann, 
“I cannot help liking the old fellow, he 
has such a contented disposition.” 

“That is because of his youth, Karl,” 
said Brasig. 

“Well, perhaps so,” said Habermann, 
reflectively. “ See, there he goes, quite 
happy with his deaf, old, brood mare.” 


132 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER XXI. 

And Fritz was happy, he was the hap- 
piest being at Pumpelhagen Court, for 
there was not much happiness there, and 
that which was painted as such was not in 
fast colors. Habermann became, from 
day to day, more and more conscious that 
his good times were over, for his young 
Herr meddled with business that he did 
not understand, and that merely by fits 
and starts, with a heat and haste, which 
spoiled the farming, and confused the peo- 
ple, and when things did not go as they 
should, and the cart got into the ditch, 
then the inspector had to bear the blame. 
The young Herr also was unhappy, he was 
tormented by debts, which he wished to 
keep secret from his wife, he was also tor- 
mented by letters from David and Slusuhr, 

— personally they no longer troubled him, 
he had settled that, on account of the 
secrecy he wished to maintain, and they 
were very willing to consent, for the more 
secret the business was so much the bet- 
ter could they shear him, and when they 
had him quietly by themselves in Rahn- 
stadt, they could use quite other knives 
and pincers, than they could at Pumpel- 
hagen, where he was host, and they were 
obliged to treat him with some degree of 
respect. 

But, besides this, he was not happy ; he 
wanted to play the master, and had not the 
stuff in him, for he who would command 
must have capacity as well as knowledge ; 
he had knowledge enough, more than 
many people, — “ but capacity ! neighbor, 
capacity ! ” said old Flegel, the wheel- 
wright, and he had reason ; the unhappiest 
of men is he who will, and can not. And 
Frida? She also was unhappy; she ob- 
served that her husband’s full confidence 
was not given to her, she noticed that 
upon many serious questions they differed 
widely in opinion, she noticed that the 
business he had taken as his life work was 
one for which he had no training, she felt 
that he was unfair enough to visit his own 
failings upon other people, and more than 
all, — and worst of all for a sensible wife, 

— she felt that he made himself ridiculous, 
and that Pomuchelskopp, who, against her 
wishes, came often to Pumpelhagen, must 
have other reasons than ordinary civility, 
for not laughing at the confused and in- 
considerate opinions of her husband. She 
resolved to keep watch over him, but 
such an occupation did not increase her 
happiness. 

Fritz Triddelsitz was the happiest crea- 
ture in all Pumpelhagen, and, if we except 


the two little twin-apples, in the whole 
region ; but we must except these, for in 
happiness and blessedness a bride goes 
! beyond all other beings, even the bride- 
grooms themselves, for if old Gottlieb, who 
had taken a candidate’s place, with a 
cheerful, brisk, burgher-like old proprietor, 
taught and flogged the boys with uncom- 
mon pleasure and fidelity, and if Rudolph 
also, with Hilgendorf at Little Tetzleben, 
strewed manure so that it was a pleasure to 
see him, and the Tetzleben soil looked like 
a velvet coverlid, and went to bed at night 
singing and piping, and regularly fell 
asleep, for weariness, in the middle of a 
verse, — in comparison with the little twin- 
apples’ blessedness as they sat together 
and sewed, stitching on their trousseuax, 
and chatting, and joking with father and 
mother, and telling Louise, and showing 
their letters, all the bridegrooms’ blessed- 
ness went for nothing. 

But the old fellow was really very hap- 
py. The first thing in the morning, he 
went to the stable, where the young Herr’s 
two riding-horses, and Habermann’s old 
Gray stood, together with his treasure ; 
he fed her, stealing the oats from the very 
mouths of the other horses, yes, although 
he had never been trained to the work, he 
groomed her, single-handed, for Krischan 
Dasel, who had charge of the riding-stable, 
did not give him satisfaction. On Sunday 
afternoons, when there was nothing else 
to do, he went to the stable, shut the door 
behind him, seated himself on the fodder- 
chest, folded his hands on his stomach, and 
thoughtfully contemplated the dear old 
creature, as she munched her oats and 
straw, and if she groaned from fullness he 
got up, stroked her back, and called her 
affectionately “ his good old woman ; ” and 
three times a day he exercised her, for 
which devotion he should not be blamed, 
for upon her depended his future income. 

But no happiness is perfect, a little an- 
noyance always creeps in. And he had 
his share. In the first place, it went very 
much against him, that his chestnut mare 
should stand next Habermann’s stiff old 
Gray : the company was not suitable ; and 
secondly, he was in everlasting conflict 
with Krischan Dasel, about fodder and 
grooming. 

“ Herr Triddelsitz,” said Krischan, once 
as they were disputing, “ let me tell you, 

I feed the horses all alike, and groom them 
all alike ; but I have often noticed that 
you take away the oats from the inspect- 
or’s old gray, and give them to your mare. 
Now, don’t take it ill of me, Herr Triddel- 
sitz, but the gray is just as good a crea- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


ture as the other, and has an equal right 
to a living. And what is this ? ” he 
asked, going up to the rack. “ How ? this 
is calf-hay ; how comes this calf-hay here ? 
I will have no vermin getting into the 
pelts, when the inspector comes round.” 

“ I know nothing about it,” said Fritz, 
and he really was ignorant. 

“Well, it is all the same to me,” said 
Krischan, “ but if I catch any one bringing 
it into the stable, I will break his bones 
for him, for I won’t be troubled with such 
things.” 

After that Krischan Dasel lay in wait, 
to catch the bringer of the calf-hay, and it 
was not long before he was successful. 
And who was it, who transgressed all law 
and order, for the love of Fritz’s chestnut 
mare? Who was so hard-hearted as to 
deprive the innocent calves of their food, 
for the sake of Fritz’s chestnut mare ? 
Who was so foolhardy, for the sake of 
the chestnut mare, as to risk the break- 
ing of her bones by Krischan Dasel ? 
Who was it ? I must tell, but let no one 
repeat it. It was Marie Moller, who, 
every time • she came from feeding the 
young calves, and passed the riding-stable, 
brought an armful of the sweet hay for 
Fritz’s old woman. 

Some one may turn upon me here, — 
hold ! here you have blundered ! How 
came they to have little calves in summer ? 
I reply, Friend, that is my affair. 

I can skip over as much time as I please, 
and am now in the middle of winter, 
after the new year 1844. And if any 
one should inquire further, How came 
Marie Moller to do such a thing ? I would 
answer, that is as stupid a question as the 
one about the calves ; have I not a right 
to introduce good-hearted people, who for- 
give and forget, into my book, as well as 
the spiteful and venomous, who bear malice 
to all eternity? 

Marie Moller could forgive and forget, 
and, since it was not suitable for her to 
throw herself openly upon Fritz’s neck, 
she threw herself with her affection, and 
the calf-hay, upon the neck of the old 
mare, which was, just then, the dearest 
thing Fritz had in the world. And it was 
quite touching, and Fritz was really 
affected, when he learned the occasion of 
the quarrel between his old sweetheart 
and Krischan Dasel; he made his peace 
with his old love, and the pleasant ham- 
and-sausage relationship was resumed. 

It was now winter, as I have said, 
and nothing remarkable had occurred in 
the region, only that Pomuchelskopp, late 
in the autumn, had taken his journey to 


133 

the Landtag, causing a great excitement 
in his quiet, simple family. Hauning skir- 
mished about the house, threw the kitchen 
utensils around, — that is to say, such as 
were not liable to break, — banged the 
doors, and said, openly, the Herr Proprie- 
tor had gone crazy ; Malchen and Salchen 
took the other side, — although secretly, 
for they had heard that the lieutenant, 
who commanded the Landtag Guards, de- 
rived a great part of his income from a 
splendid ball which he gave, with tickets 
of admission a louis-d’or each. They had 
been to the Whitsuntide-fair ball, at 
Rostock, they had been to a cattle-show ; 
but a Landtag’s ball ? That must go be- 
yond everything ! They teased their fa- 
ther so persistently, that he took courage 
to speak out to his wife. 

“ Kliicken,” said he, “ I cannot do other- 
wise, I have promised Herr von Rambow, 
and he went yesterday, and will wait on 
me there.” 

“ So ? ” said Hauning, “ and his peacock 
of a wife, will she wait on me ? ” 

“ Kliicking, that has nothing to do with 
it; and if I lose every opportunity of 
showing that I am a man who stands up 
for the nobility, how shall I get made a 
nobleman myself? See, I shall ride away 
to-day, with a black coat, we will talk 
about it again, when I come back with a 
red one.” 

“ A pretty figure you will cut in it ! ” 
said the old woman, going out of the 
door. 

“ As good as any other nobleman,” 
growled Pomuchelskopp, after her.” 

“ Gracious ! father, I know,” cried Sal- 
chen, and she ran out, and came back with 
a scarlet flannel petticoat, which she threw 
over her father’s shoulders, like a herald’s 
mantle, and placed him before the mirror ; 
and the Herr Proprietor turned about, 
and contemplated himself with great satis- 
faction, until the old woman came in again, 
and snatched off the petticoat: “If you 
will positively make a fool of yourself, 
you may do so at the Landtag, but not 
here in my house.” 

The Herr Proprietor took this for full 
permission to journey to the Landtag, and 
journeyed accordingly. But when he 
arrived at Malchin, and got down at 
Yoitel’s, his troubles began at once, for he 
had got into the wrong box; he should 
have stopped at the Bull, where the nobility 
resorted, and here he was among mere bur- 
gomeisters and burgher-proprietors, who 
could in no way aid his designs. He 
stood about in everybody’s way, not know- 
ing what to do with himself, and nobody 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


134 

else seemed to know, till at last he plucked 
up courage to inquire if any one had seen 
Herr von Rambow of Pumpelhagen, for 
he meant to pattern after Axel. Nobody 
had seen him ; at last some one said that 
the Herr von Rambow had gone off that 
afternoon, with the Herr von Brulow, to 
Brulowshof, to see his blood horses. In 
his great embarrassment, he finally went 
up to a rather large and stately gentle- 
man, who had something friendly in his 
appearance, but with a roguish gleam in 
his eyes as if he enjoyed a joke, when he 
had an opportunity. 

“ Begging your pardon,” said he, “ I am 
the proprietor Pomuchelskopp, of Gurlitz, 
and am here, for the first time, as a deputy. 
You appear to be a friendly man, and I 
want to ask you what I have to do here.” 

“ Yes,” said the stranger, taking a pinch 
of snuff, “what have you to do here? 
You have nothing further to do ; you will 
have made the necessary visits already ? ” 

“ No,” said Pomuchelskopp. 

“ Well, then, you must pay your respects 
to the deputy-governor, the land-marshal, 
and the landrath. Good evening, Lang- 
feldt, where are you going ? ” he inter- 
rupted himself, and addressed this ques- 
tion to a man who was just going out with 
a lantern in his hand. 

“ To make the stupid old visits,” said he, 
turning round in the doorway. “ Do you 
stay here, Briickner? I will come back 
again, by and by.” 

“ Don’t wait too long, then,” said the 
friendly Herr, and turned again to Pomu- 
chelskopp. “ So you have not made your 
visits yet ? ” 

“ No,” said the Herr Proprietor. 

“You should make them at once, then. 
The gentleman with the lantern has to 
make the same visits, you need only follow 
behind his lantern. That will do finely ! 
But be quick, quick ! ” And Pomuchels- 
kopp snatched his hat from the nail, 
rushed out of doors, and ran through the 
streets of Malchin, as fast as his stoutness 
and short breath would allow. The 
friendly Herr took a pinch of snuff, with 
his eyes full of mischief, and sat down 
quietly behind the table, laughing to him- 
self, and saying, “ I only wish I could see 
Langfeldt.” 

And it would really have been worth 
his while. When the burgomeister from 
Gustrow had gone in, to see the deputy- 
governor of Schwerin, and had given his 
lantern to the footman, something came 
puffing up the steps, and Pomuchelskopp 
made a low bow to the footman, and 
asked, “ Herr Footman, where is the Herr 


whom one must visit here ? ” The man 
opened the door for him, and Pomuchels- 
kopp bowed himself in, making his deep- 
est reverences to Langfeldt, whom he took 
for the deputy-governor, for which he 
should not be blamed, since the Herr Bur- 
gomeister from Gustrow always held his 
head forward as if he were going to push 
through a wall with it, which would suit 
very well for a Mecklinburg deputy-gov- 
ernor. He turned Pomuchelskopp round, 
however, and showed him the right man, 
and since he was out of the fight, he went 
out, and took up his lantern. Pomuchels- 
kopp feared that he would desert him, he 
made a couple of bows, and was off again, 
after Langfeldt’s lantern. 

At the land-marshal’s, it was just so ; 
the Herr Burgomeister had begun a court- 
eous speech, when Pomuchelskopp came 
puffing in, behind him. 

“ What is that beast coming here again 
for?” said Langfeldt to himself, and 
quickly took leave, thinking to escape 
him ; but the Herr Proprietor was persist- 
ent, the lantern was his only reliance, he 
rushed after him again. The performance 
was repeated at the landrath’s ; the bur- 
gomeister was getting very angry, and 
because he was well acquainted with the 
landrath, since they had sat together on 
the select committee, he did not restrain 
himself from speaking out : 

“ Herr, why do you run after me, so ? ” 

“I — I — ” stammered Pomuchelskopp, 

“ I can make visits, as well as you ! ” 

“ Make them alone by yourself, then,” 
cried the burgomeister. 

The landrath endeavored to smooth 
matters, and Pomuchelskopp grew super- 
cilious and obstinate ; but when the bur- 
gomeister took leave, he followed him 
again, on account of the lantern. But the 
burgomeister’s patience was wholly ex- 
hausted. “ Herr ! ” said he, turning round 
on him in the street, “ what are you run- 
ning after me for ? ” 

Pomuchelskopp, however, was no longer 
in distinguished company, he had found 
that he had only to do with a burgomeis- 
ter, so he cleared his throat, and said : 

“Herr, I am just as good a Fasan 
(pheasant) of the Grand Duke’s as you 
are ! ” He meant to say Yasall (sub- 
ject), but got it wrong. Even an angry 
man must have laughed at such a speech, 
and the burgomeister, who was an honest 
old fellow, quite forgot his vexation, and, 
laughing heartily, said : 

“ Come along then ! Now I know what 
sort of a fellow you are.” 

“ And where you can go,” cried Pomu- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


chelskopp, still in anger, “ there I can go, 
any day ! ” and he trotted on again, after 
the lantern. He should not have done 
that, for Langfeldt had finished his visits, 
and was now going to his lodgings, to get 
his latch-key, and a little money for play- 
ing ombre. Pomuchelskopp followed him 
into his room. The Herr Burgomeister 
put down the lantern on the table, — the 
thing was getting to be very amusing, — 
turned round, and asked, laughing : 

“Will you be kind enough to tell me 
what you want ? ” 

“ To make my visits as well as you,” 
cried Pomuchelskopp, in great anger at 
being laughed at. 

“ To whom, then, here ? ” 

“ That is none of your concern,” cried 
Pomuchelskopp, “ the gentleman will 
come,” and. he sat down in a chair. 

“ Why, this is really a comedy,” said the 
burgomeister, and he called out of the 
door : “ Fika, bring a light ! ” and when 
Fika came he pointed to Pomuchelskopp, 
and asked her, “ Fika, did you ever see a 
pheasant ? See, this is a pheasant ! This 
is the Grand Duke’s pheasant 1 ” and Fika 
shouted and laughed, and ran laughing 
out of the room, and the burgomeister’s 
host came in, to take a look at the pheas- 
ant, and the host’s children came in, and 
there was such a frolic, that Pomuchels- 
kopp finally discovered whom he was 
visiting. He rushed out of the house, in 
great wrath, and the Herr Burgomeister 
went softly behind him, with the lantern. 

“ Langfeldt,” inquired the friendly Herr, 
at Voitel’s, taking a pinch of snuff, “ have 
you made your visits properly ? ” and his 
eyes were full of roguery. 

“ Let me tell you,” cried the Herr 
Burgomeister, “ now I know ! I might 
have thought that it was you who sent 
that beast after me.” And he told the 


135 

story, and so it came about, for the gentle- 
men at the Landtag will have their jokes, 
that Pomuchelskopp was called the pheas- 
ant, and Axel, after whom he was contin- 
ually trotting, was called the “ pheasant’s 
keeper,” and when Malchen and Salchen 
came up to the Landtag’s ball, in gorgeous 
array, they were the “pheasant-chickens.” 
When Pomuchelskopp wrote his assent on 
a ballot, with a “ Jah ! ” (instead of “ Ja,” 
yes,) there were some who were for calling 
him the Landtag’s donkey ; but it wouldn’t 
go, the “ pheasant ” had got the start too 
thoroughly. 

No, he did not enjoy himself very much, 
at the Landtag, for even the nobility, after 
whom he dawdled, and with whom he 
voted, would have nothing to do with him, 
lest they should make themselves a laugh- 
ing-stock ; but when he reached home, his 
real trials began, for his Hanning called 
him “ Poking,” continually, and he knew 
what o’clock that was, and Malchen and 
Salchen did not stand by him, as they 
ought, for at the Landtag’s ball they had 
sat, as if they were sitting on eggs. And 
they pricked and stung the poor, simple 
man and lawgiver, in his sofa corner, till a 
stone would have pitied him : “ Poking, 
what did you really do at the Landtag ? ” 
and “ Father, are you going to be a noble- 
man soon ? ” and “ Poking, what do they 
do , any way, at the Landtag ? ” 

“ Oh, I don’t know. They cut at each 
other.” 

“ Poking, who did you cut at ? ” 

“ Oh, I don’t know. One cuts at one, 
and another at another.” 

“Father, what did they decide about 
the convent-question ? ” 

“ Oh, I don’t know ; you will find out 
soon enough, from the Rostock ‘ Times ; ’ ” 
and with that he went out to the barn, 
and took refuge among the threshers. 


136 


SEED-TJME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

But — as I have said — the new year 
1844 had come, and the winter was over, 
and spring stood at the door, with leaves 
and grass and flowers, only waiting a nod 
from the master of the house to begin her 
decorations ; and, as the snow and ice dis- 
appeared from the earth, men’s hearts 
were softened, and their eyes grew bright, 
like the sunshine that lay upon the world. 

Old Habermann’s eyes, also, grew 
clearer, and his heart became lighter, and 
as he worked in the fields in the spring 
sunshine, and sowed the summer seed in 
the dark ground, the Lord was sowing his 
sad heart with fresh hopes. His master 
had gone with his young wife to visit her 
relatives, so he could govern his realm 
after his own pleasure, and he could see 
his daughter more frequently than in the 
winter. This very morning he had spoken 
with her, when he went to church, and 
now he was sitting comfortably in his 
parlor, in the afternoon, thinking of vari- 
ous matters ; no one disturbed him, for 
Fritz was in the stable with his mare, 
which was very agreeable for the old man, 
since he always knew where he was to be 
found, which, formerly, had not always 
been the case. 

“ Good day, Karl ! ” said Brasig, coming 
in at the door. 

“ What ? ” cried Habermann, springing 
up, “ I thought you had the Podagra, and 
I was just wishing I could go over to see 
you to-day ; but the Herr is not at home, 
and Triddelsitz is not to be depended 
upon in these days ” 

“ No, what ails him ? ” 

“ Oh, his old mare is going to have a 
colt.” 

“ Ha, ha ! ” cried Brasig, “ and it will be 
a thorough-bred, and the young Herr is 
to buy it.” 

“ Yes, it is so. But have you had the 
Podagra, or not ? ” 

“Karl, it is impossible to tell, in this 
confounded disease, whether it is the 
proper Podagra, or not. Really, it is all 
the same, so far as the torment is con- 
cerned ; but in respect to the causes there 
is a great difference. You see, Karl, you 
get the Podagra by good eating and drink- 
ing, that is the proper kind ; but if you 
get it only from these infamous, good-for- 
nothing, double-sewed wax-leather boots, 
that is the improper kind, and that is 
what I have.” 

“ Yes, why do you always wear the old 
things, then ? 

“ Karl, I used to wear them because 


of my relations with the count, and I can- 
not throw them away. But what I was 
going to ask — have you been at the Pas- 
tor’s to-day ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Well, how is it there ? ” 

“Ah, it looks badly, the old Herr is 
very weak : when he came out of the pul- 
pit the sweat ran down his cheeks, and it 
was a long time before he got rested, 
lying on his sofa.” 

“ Hm ! hm ! ” said Brasig, shaking his 
head, “ I don’t like that ; but, Karl, he is 
getting into years.” 

“ That is true,” said Habermann, 
thoughtfully. 

“ How is your little girl ? ” asked 
Brasig. 

“ Thank you, Zachary, she is very well, 
thank God ! She was here last week, — I 
had no time to spare, I must be out sowing 
peas, but the gracious lady had seen her, 
and kept her, and she stayed here until 
evening.” 

“ Karl 1 ” cried Brasig, springing up, and 
walking back and forth, and biting off in 
his excitement, the knob from the point 
of his pipe, “ you may believe me or not, 
— your gracious lady is the chief produc- 
tion of the whole human race.” 

Habermann rose also, and walked up 
and down, and every time that they met 
each other, they smoked more violently, 
and Brasig asked, “ Am I not right, Karl,” 
and Habermann replied, “ You are right, 
Zachary.” And who knows how long 
they would have ruminated upon this 
topic, if a carriage had not driven up, 
from which Kurz and the rector de- 
scended. 

“ Good day ! good day ! ” cried Kurz, 
as he entered the room, “ see there, see 
there, there is the Herr Inspector. Well, 
how goes it, old friend? Habermann, I 
came about that clover seed.” 

“ Good day,” said Rector Baldrian, to 
Brasig, drawing out the word “ day,” as 
if the day were to last forever, “ how goes 
it with you, my honored friend ? ” 

“Very well,” said Brasig. 

“ Habermann,” exclaimed Kurz, “ Is n’t 
it so ? Capital seed 1 ” 

“ Why, Kurz,” said Habermann, “ the 
seed wasn’t quite ripe. I tried it on the 
hot shovel, and if it is the right kind, the 
kernels will spring up, like flies, from the 
shovel, but here many kernels lay still.” 

“ You don’t look quite so blooming, my 
honored friend,” said the rector to Brasig, 
“ as at the time when we drank punch to- 
gether, at the betrothals.” 

“ There is reason for that,” said Haber- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 137 


mann, throwing his arm over Br'asig’s 

shoulder, “my old friend has had a touch 

of Podagra again.” 

© © 

“ Yes, yes,” laughed the rector, growing 
quite merry : 

“ Vinurn the father, 

And coena the mother. 

And Venus the nurse, 

Produce the Podagra.” 

“ The seed is beautiful ! ” cried Kurz, 
“ you will find no better between Grim- 
men and Greifswald.” 

“ Ho, ho, Kurz,” said Ilabermann, “ not 

so fast ! I have a word to say ” 

“ Listen to me ! ” said Brasig, across to 
the rector. “ Don’t come near me with 
your French ! I don’t understand it. 
What did you say about Fenus? What 
have I, and my cursed Podagra, to do with 
Fenus V v 

“ My honored friend and benefactor,” 
said the rector, with unction, “ Venus was, 
in antiquity, the goddess of love.” 

“ It is all one to me,” said Brasig, “ she 
might be something very different, for all 
I care, — now-a-days, every stupid sheep- 
dog is called Fenus.” 

“No, Ilabermann,” cried Kurz, again, 
“if the clover seed has the right lustre, 

and looks so violet-blue, then ” 

“ Well, Kurz,” said Ilabermann, “ yours 
didn’t look like that.” 

“ My benefactor,” said the rector again, 
to Brasig. “ Venus was, as I have said, a 

goddess, and as a sheep-dog ” 

“ Eh, what ? ” said Brasig, “ you must 
have imagined all that, about the goddess, 
Fenus means a sort of bird. Karl, don’t 
you remember the stories we read, when 
we were children, about the bird Fenus? ” 
“ Ah ! ” said the rector, as light dawned 
upon his mind, “ you mean the bird 
Phoenix, which builds itself, in Arabia, a 

nest of costly spices ” 

“ That is an impossibility ! ” exclaimed 
Kurz. “ How can the most skillful bird 
build a nest out of cloves, pepper-corns, 
cardamoms and nutmegs ? ” 

“ Dear brother-in-law, it is only a fable.” 
“ Then the fable is a falsehood,” said 
Brasig, “ but I don’t think you pronounce 
the word rightly; it isn’t Phoenix, it is 
Ponix, and they are not birds, they are lit- 
tle horses, and they don’t come from 
Arabia, but from Sweden, and Oland, and 
I know them very well, for my gracious 
lady the countess had two Ponixes, which 
she used to drive for pleasure.” 

The rector wanted to set him right, but 
Kurz interrupted: “No, brother-in-law, 
let it go I We all know that you are bet- 


ter informed than Brasig, in such learned 
matters.” 

“ No,” said Brasig, “ let him come on ! ” 
standing before the rector, as if he had no 
objections to a contest. 

“No, no 1 ” exclaimed Kurz. “We 
didn’t come out here, to quarrel about 
Venuses and clover-seed; we came merely 
to have a pleasant game of Boston.” 

“W r e can have that,” said Habermann, 
beginning to clear the table. 

“ Hold, Karl,” said Brasig, “ I don’t like 
to see you doing that, that is the house- 
steward’s business.” And with that he 
roared across the court, “ Triddelsitz ! ” 
and Fritz came running in. “ Triddelsitz, 
we are going to play Boston, get the table 
ready, and a sheet of paper to set down 
the winnings, and fill the pipes, and make 
a handful of matches.” 

And when Fritz had made ready, they 
sat down, and prepared to begin. They 
must first decide how high they would 
play. Kurz was for playing Boston 
grandissimo, for shilling points ; but Kurz 
was always very venturesome ; that was a 
little too high for the others, and Brasig 
declared that he wouldn’t sit down to 
play, to get people’s money out of their 
pockets. At last, through Habermann’s 
interposition, they settled what the game 
should b?, and were ready to begin. 

“Who has diamonds?” asked the rec- 
tor ; “ he deals.” 

“ Kurz deals,” said Brasig. 

So now they could finally begin; but 
they did not begin, quite yet, for the rec- 
tor laid his hand on the cards, and said, 
looking around the circle, “ It is worthy of 
note 1 We are all pretty reasonable men, 
and we are going to play a game, naffiely 
the game of cards, which, according to au- 
thentic information, was invented for the 
entertainment of an insane king. King 
Charles of France ” 

“ Come, children,” said Kurz, taking the 
cards out of the rector’s hand, “ if we are 
going to play, let us play, if we are going 
to tell stories, we will tell stories.” 

“ Go ahead 1 ” cried Brasig, and Kurz 
dealt, — made a misdeal, however in his 
haste, so “ Once more ! ” This time it 
was all right, and they began to look at 
their cards. “ 1 pass,” said Habermann, 
who had the lead. Then it came to the 
rector ; they had to wait for him a little, 
because he had not yet arranged his cards, 
for he had a superstition that the cards 
were better if he took them up, one by 
one, and because he improved all his op- 
portunities with great conscientiousness, 
he arranged all his cards in order of rank, 


138 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


and turned the sevens and fives so that he 
could see the middle spot, and not mistake 
them for the sixes and the fours. Kurz, 
meanwhile, laid his cards on the table, 
folded his hands over them, looked at him 
and sighed. “ I pass,” said the rector. 

“I knew you would,” said Kurz, for he 
knew that his brother-in-law must examine 
his cards closely, before he would commit 
himself, and, on the other hand, he was 
afraid of his assisting, because usually he 
either had nothing, or if he had something, 
he played it the wrong time. 

“ Pass ! ” said Brasig, whose turn came 
next. 

“ Boston grandissimo ! ” said Kurz. 
“ Who assists ? ” 

“ Pass ! ” said Habermann. 

“ Dear brother-in-law,” said the rector, 
“ I —r one trick — two tricks — well I shall 
find a third — I assist.” 

“Well,” said Kurz, “but we don’t pay 
together. Each pays for himself.” 

“ Come, Karl,” said Brasig, “ Out with 
it ! We will break their fiddle in two.” 

“ Well,” said Kurz, “ don’t talk about 
it.” 

“ God forbid,” said Habermann, and led 
the ten of hearts : “ Duke Michael fell 
upon the land.” 

“ Come, Herr Oberforster,” said the rec- 
tor, playing the knave of hearts. 

“ Herze mich und kiisse mich, und 
kriinkle meine krause nich,” * said Brasig, 
playing the queen. 

“ That maid must have a man,” said 
Kurz, playing the king, and, laying the 
trick aside, he led a low club (kreuz). 
“ Kreuz Kringel und Zweibach 1 ” f 

“Bite, Peter, they are lentils!” cried 
Brasig to Habermann. 

“ Hold ! ” cried Kurz, “ no telling ! ” 

“ God forbid ! ” said Habermann, and 
played also a low club. 

“ A fine singer is our sexton,” said the 
rector, playing the nine. 

“ A cross and strife, a wicked wife, the 
Lord hath sent upon me,” said Brasig, 
and took the trick with the queen. 

“ Well,” said Kurz, “ that was a heavy 
cross, to be sure. What have you next ? ” 

“ Pay attention, Karl, now we begin our 
journey,” said Brasig. “ Herr,” to Kurz, 
“ I was whist. Here ! Pikas was a point- 
er,” and led the pik-as (ace of spades), 
and followed with the king, — “ Long live 
the king ! ” and then the queen, — “ Re- 
spect for the ladies ! ” 

“ Good heavens ! ” cried Kurz, laying 

* “Hug me and kiss me, but don’t tumble my 
curls.” 

t “Cross buns and cracknels.” 


down his cards, and looking at the rector, 
“ what a hand I He can’t have any more 
spades.” 

“Dear brother-in-law,” said the rector, 
“ I come yet.” 

“ But too late,” said Kurz, taking up his 
cards, with a deep sigh, as if the rector 
had treated him unworthily, but he would 
bear it like a Christian. 

“ Karl,” said Brasig, “ how much have we 
in all? 

“ Four tricks,” said Habermann. 

“ Come,” said Kurz, “ that is not fair, no 
telling ! ” 

“Is it telling,” said Brasig, “when I 
merely ask a question ? Now pay atten- 
tion, Karl, I shall take one more, and if 
you take one, then we are out.” 

“ I shall get mine,” said Kurz. 

“And I shall get mine, too,” said the 
rector. 

After a couple of rounds, Kurz laid his 
hand over his tricks : “ So, I have mine.” 
Diamonds were on the table, the rector 
ventured a cut with the queen, Brasig fol- 
lowed with the king, and the poor rector 
had lost his trick: “ How that could hap- 
pen, I cannot comprehend ! ” 

“ It wasn’t a whist game ! ” cried Kurz. 

“ Karl,” said Brasig, “ if you had been 
careful, they would have lost another 
trick.” 

“ You must blame yourself for that, you 
didn’t play after me in hearts.” 

“ Karl, did I have any ? I had nothing 
but the queen.” 

“ No, brother-in-law,” cried Kurz, mean- 
time, “ you threw away the game, you had 
the king of clubs, and you played the 
nine. It lost the game.” 

“ What would you have ? ” said Brasig, 
with great contempt. “ Are you a dunce ? 
Here I sit with a handful of spades, and a 
couple of queens besides ; what would you 
have ? ” 

“ Herr, do you think, when I have said 
Boston, I am afraid of your trumpery 
queens ? ” 

“ Come, come ! ” cried Habermann, deal- 
ing the cards, “ let it go, this old after- 
play is disagreeable.” 

In this fashion, they played on, and it 
seemed as if they would tear each other’s 
hair, and yet they had the best feelings 
towards each other. The rector won, and 
he had the best prospect of winning, for 
he who loses the first game, as is well 
known, always wins afterward. Kurz sat 
disconsolate at his bad luck ; but that also 
often finds compensation. “ Ten grand- 
issimo ! ” said he. All were surprised, 
even he himself, and he looked his cards 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


13 £ 


through once more. “ Ten grandissimo ! ” 
said he again, laid the cards on the table, 
and walked up and down the room : “ They 
play like that in Venice, and other great 
watering places.” 

In the midst of his greatest triumph, and 
the greatest distress of the others, Fritz 
Triddelsitz came to the door, looking 
quite disturbed and pale : “ Herr Inspector, 
Herr Habermann, oh, do come out here ! ” 

“ Good heavens 1 ” exclaimed Haber- 
mann, “what has happened?” and wac 
springing up, but Kurz held him back. 

“ No,” said he, “ the game must be played 
first. It happened so to me, once before, 
at the time of the great fire, I had just put 
a grand on the table, and they all ran 
away.” 

“ Herr Inspector,” begged Fritz, “ you 
must come.” 

“ What is it ? ” cried Habermann, drop- 
ping his cards, and jumping up. “ Is any- 
thing on fire ? ” 

“No,” stammered Fritz, “I — me — 
something has happened to me.” 

“ What has happened to you ? ” said Bra- 
sig, across the table. 

“My chestnut mare has a colt,” said 
Fritz, in an anxious tone. 

“Well, that has often happened,” said 
Brasig, “ but you make a face like a funer- 
al ; it is rather a joyful occasion, under the 
circumstances.” 

“Yes,” said Fritz, “but — but — it is so 
queer. You must come with me, Herr 
Inspector.” 

“ Why, is the colt dead ? ” asked Haber- 
mann. 

“ No,” said Fritz, “ it is well enough ; but 
it looks so queer. Krischan Dasel says he 
should think it was a young camel.” 

“ Well,” said Habermann, “we can finish 
the game afterwards, we will go out with 
you.” 

And in spite of Kurz’s remonstrances, 
they all went with Fritz to the stable. 

“I never saw such a colt,” said Fritz, 
on the way, “ it has ears as long as that,” 
measuring from the wrist to the elbow. 

When they came to the stable, there 
stood Krischan Dasel by the enclosure, 
where the mare was looking fondly at her 
little one, and whinnying over it, and the 
little one was making its first attempts at 
springing about; he shook his head, and 
said to Brasig, who came and stood by 
him, “Now tell me, Herr Inspector, did 
you ever see the like of that ? ” 

“Yes,” said Brasig, looking at Haber- 
mann, and said with emphasis, “I will tell 
you, Karl, what sort of an animal it is. 
Fullblood’s colt is a mule.” 


“ That is it,” said Habermann. 

“ A mule ? ” cried Fritz, and he spr .ng 
over into the enclosure, and succeeded, in 
spite of the whinnying of the 'V’a mare, in 
grasping the colt by the n:ck, and ex- 
amined his face and eyes 9nd ears, and as 
the fearful truth flashed upon him he ex- 
claimed, in fierce anger, “ Oh, I could 
wring the creature’s neck, and Gust Preb- 
berow’s, into the bargain ! ” 

“For shame, Triddelsitz,” said Haber- 
mann, seriously, “just see how pleased the 
mother is, even if it isn’t a thorough-bred.” 

“Yes,” cried Brasig, “and she is the 
nearest to it, as the Frau Pastorin says. 
But you may wring Gust Prebberow’s 
neck, for all I care, for he is an out-and- 
out, double-distilled rascal.” 

“ How is it possible ! ” said Fritz, as he 
slowly stepped out of the enclosure, and 
his wrath had given place to a great mel- 
ancholy ; “ he is my best friend, and now 
he has cheated me with a deaf horse and a 
mule. I will sue him.” 

“ I told you before, there was no friend- 
ship nor honesty in horse-dealing,” said 
Brasig, taking Fritz under the arm, and 
drawing him out of the stable, “ but I am 
sorry for you, in your just retribution. 
You have bought your experience in 
horse-dealing, and that is what every one 
must do, but let me warn you against a 
horse lawsuit, for long after the mule is 
dead such a lawsuit will be far from 
ended. You see,” he went on, leading 
Fritz up and down the court, “ I will tell 
you a story, for an example. You see, 
there was old Riitebusch, of Swensin, he 
sold a horse to his own brother-in-law, 
who was inspector here before Haber- 
mann’s time, an infamous creature of a 
dapple-gray, as a saddle-horse. Good, or, 
as you are in the habit of saying, ‘ Bong 1 ’ 
Three days after, the inspector wishes to 
try his new acquisition, so he climbs on to 
the creature, which was very high; but 
scarcely was he seated, when the old 
schinder ran off to the village pond — no 
stopping him I — and there he stood, up 
to the neck in water, and would move 
neither back nor forward. 

“It was fortunate, both for the dapple- 
gray and the inspector, else they might 
both have been drowned; the inspector 
roared mightily for help, for he couldn’t get 
down there, and he couldn’t swim, and old 
Flegel the wheelwright had to come to his 
rescue in a boat. Well, then the lawsuit 
began, for the inspector said the horse was 
a stupid, what we farmers call a studirten 
(scholar), and Riitebusch must take him 
back, for stupidity protects from every- 


140 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


thing, in horse-dealing as in other matters. 
Riitebusch wouldn’t do it, and the two 
brothers-in-law first had a falling out, and 
then quarrelled so bitterly, that they 
wouldn’t go within three miles of each 
other. 

“The lawsuit went on, all the time. 
All Swensin was called up to testify that 
the creature was in its right mind when 
they knew it, and the Pumpelhagen people 
had to swear that it appeared to them 
like a studirten. So the lawsuit went on, 
into its fifth year, and the creature stood 
quietly in its stable, eating oats, for the 
inspector never got on it again, since he 
considered it such a dangerous animal ; he 
dared not kill it, either, for it was the 
corpus delicti of the whole concern, as 
they call it. They brought the most 
learned horse-doctors to see it, but it did 
no good, for they were not agreed, three 
said it was clever, and three said it was 
stupid. The lawsuit was going on, slowly, 
all the time, and a whole brood of new 
lawsuits was hatched out of it, for the 
learned horse-doctors charged each other 
with maliciousness and ill-breeding, and 
sued each other for libel. Then they 
wrote to a celebrated horse-professor, in 
Berlin, to see what he thought of the busi- 
ness. He wrote back that they must cut 
off the old schinder’s head, and send it to 
him, till he could examine the brains ; it 
was hard enough to tell whether a reason- 
able being was clever or stupid, but it 
was harder, with an unreasonable beast, 
because the poor creature had nothing to 
say for himself. 

“ Well, that might have been done, but 
old Riitebusch and his lawyer opposed it, 
and carried their point, and the suit went 
on again. Then old Riitebusch died, and 
six months afterwards, his brother-in-law 
died also, and they never were reconciled, 
even on their death-beds, and went into 
eternity, each obstinate in his own opinion, 
the one that the old schinder was clever, 
the other that he was stupid. The law- 
suit was suspended, for the time, and soon 
died out of itself, for the old gray kicked 
the bucket, three weeks later, out of pure 
idleness and over-feeding. Then they 
salted his head nicely, and sent it to the 
professor, at Berlin, and he wrote back, 
clearly and distinctly, that the old horse 
had, all his life, been as little of a studirten 
as himself, and he only wished that every 
one of the lawyers had as much intel- 
ligence as the beast, so very reasonable 
had his brains appeared. And the man 
was right ; for I afterwards had the infa- 
mous rascal of a boy, who brought out the 


horse for the inspector, for a servant, and 
he confessed to me that he had tied a 
piece of burning tinder under the poor 
creature’s tail, out of pure deviltry, be- 
cause the inspector had given him a beat- 
ing the day before. And I ask any 
reasonable being, how intelligent must not 
that poor beast have been, to run into the 
village pond, to extinguish the fire ! And 
so the great lawsuit came to an end ; but 
the little lawsuits, between the learned 
horse-doctors, are still going on. And 
now, let me tell you something : Haber- 
mann is a good friend of old Prebberow, 
the rascal’s father, and he shall speak to 
him, and get justice done you. And now 
you may go, and don’t cherish any hatred 
against the innocent little beast, or against 
the mother, for they couldn’t help it, and 
the mother is a poor, deceived creature, as 
well as you.” 

With that, he followed the others, who 
had returned to the card-table. 

“ Come, come ! ” said Kqrz, “ so ; ten 
grandissimo I I play myself.” 

“ Karl,” said Br'asig, “ you must talk 
with old Prebberow, and not let your con- 
founded greyhound get into difficulties.” 

“ I will do so, Zachary, and it shall all 
be made right ; but I am sorry for the 
poor boy, that he should be so disap- 
pointed. Who would have thought of a 
mule ! ” (raaulesel.) 

“ I observe,” said the rector, laying the 
cards, which he had arranged in order of 
rank, upon the table, “ that you all speak 
of this little new-born animal as a maul- 
esel, while according to the natural his- 
tory use of language, it should be called 
a maulthier. The difference is ” 

“ Don’t bore us with your natural his- 
tory ! ” cried Kurz. “ Are we playing 
natural history, or are we playing cards ? 
Here, ace of diamonds lies on the table ! ” 

Well, there was no help for it, they 
suited and suited, and Kurz won the game, 
and with it the right to boast, for four 
weeks, of his ten grandissimo. 

So they played on, in friendly excite- 
ment, until the rector, looking over the ac- 
count, became aware that he had won, in 
all, three thalers and eight groschen, and 
since the luck was going rather against 
him of late, he resolved to stop ; so he 
rose, and said his feet were getting cold, 
and put his winnings in his pocket. 
t “ If you suffer from cold feet,” said Brii- 
sig, “ I will tell you a good remedy ; take 
a pinch of snuff every morning, on an 
empty stomach, — that is good for cold 
feet.” 

“ Eh, what I ” cried Kurz, who had been 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


141 


winning lately, “how can he get cold 

feet?” 

“ So ? ” said the rector, hotly, for he 
was determined to retain his winnings, 
“ haven’t I as good a right to cold feet as 
you ? Don’t you always get cold feet, at 
our club, when you have had good luck ? ” 
and he carried it out, he kept his cold 
feet, and his winnings, and after a little 
while the two city people drove off, taking 
Brasig with them. 

Habermann was just going to bed, 
when there was a loud talking and 
scolding before the door, and Fritz Trid- 
delsitz and Krischan Dasel came in. 

“ Good evening, Herr Inspector,” said 
Krischan, “ it is all the same to me.” 

“ What is the matter now ? ” asked 
Habermann. 

“ Herr Inspector,” said Fritz, “ you 
know how it has gone with — well, with 
the mule, and now Krischan won’t have the 
beast in the stable.” 

“ What has happened ? said Haber- 
man. 

“ Yes, Herr, it is all the same to me. 
But this isn’t all the same, I have been 
used to horses and colts, and not to camels 
and mules. Why, Herr Triddelsitz might 
as well bring bears and monkeys into the 
riding-stable ! ” 

“ Well, but if I tell you so, the beast 
shall stand in the stable, and you shall 
take just as good care of it as of any other 
colt.” 

“ Yes, if you command me, then it is all 
the same to me, and then it shall always 
be so. Well, good night, Herr Inspector, 
and don’t take it ill of me,” and he went 
off. 

“ Herr Habermann,” said Fritz, “ what 
will Herr von Rainbow say to this acci- 
dent ? and the gracious lady too ? ” 

“ Make yourself easy, they will not 
trouble themselves much about it. 


“Well,” said Fritz, and went out of 
the door, to go to bed, “ it is too provok- 
ing, that this should have happened to my 
mare.” 

When the Herr came home from his 
journey, he got the story of the chestnut 
mare fresh from Krischan, and because he 
was a good-natured man, and liked Fritz, 
since in some respects they were a good 
deal alike, he comforted him and said, 
“ Never mind ! This does not interfere 
with our bargain. You must think that it 
is only the natural result of a mesalliance. 
We will put the mare and the colt 
into the paddock, by and by ; and you 
will see they will give us a great deal of 
pleasure.” 

It was really so ; every one found 
amusement in the little beast. When the 
village children strolled through the fields, 
on Sunday afternoons, they would go to 
the paddock, and gaze at the little mule : 
“ See, Joching, there he is.” “ Yes, 
that is a nice one I See, how he pricks 
up his ears ! ” “ Now look, see him 

kick ! ” 

When the maids passed the paddock, on 
the way to the milking shed, they also 
stopped : “ See, Stina, there is Herr Trid- 
delsitz’s mule ! ” “ Come, Fika, let us go 
round that way.” “ Not I, what a horrid- 
looking creature ! ” “ You need not call 
him horrid, he gives you the least trouble 
of any of them.” 

And through the whole region, the mare 
and the mule and Fritz were renowned, 
and wherever the latter showed himself 
he was asked a fter the welfare of the mule, 
to his great annoyance. The little old 
donkey, however, was not at all troubled, 
he ran about in the paddock all summer, 
with the other well-born and high-born 
colts, and, if any of them came too near 
him, he knew how to stand up for his 
rights. 


\ 


142 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

This was a very favourable year for 
Pumpelhagen ; and when the harvest came, 
and the prices of grain went up, Axel von 
Rambow was relieved from all his anx- 
ieties and embarrassments. 

He made calculations, and was quite 
sure, reckoning the rape at such a figure, 
and the profit of the sheep and of the 
dairy-farm at so and so much, that, with 
the quantity of wheat he should have, he 
could pay the last dollar of his debts. 
The devil must be in it, if he didn’t finish 
this year, completely out of debt. There 
was good reason why this year should be 
prosperous, he had been himself at Pum- 
pelhagen, he had concerned himself in the 
management of affairs, and every one 
knows that the eye of the master is for 
husbandry what the sun is for the world, 
everything grows and ripens in its light, 
and the grass grows green beneath the 
master’s tread. So Axel took the gifts 
and mercies of the Lord coolly out of his 
hands, and gave himself the credit of the 
blessed year, — even the high price of grain 
seemed to. him a deserved reward for his 
industry. 

So he sat on his high horse, and although 
he found it for the moment a little difficult 
to meet the necessary expenses of the es- 
tate, and to pay the notes held by David 
and Slusuhr, as they fell due, yet it gave 
him no uneasiness, for he had gained great 
credit, in the region, for his intelligent and 
industrious management, as he inferred 
from the fact that Pomuchelskopp had 
several times taken occasion to offer him 
money. He had accepted it, without re- 
flection, to satisfy David and Slusuhr, and 
he paid them with Pomuchelskopp’s money, 
and they paid it again to Pomuchelskopp, 
and he again to Axel, and so it went 
round the circle. This arrangement would 
have been very fine, if he had not been the 
only one to suffer by it, and if Pomuchels- 
kopp had not had the inconvenience of 
unpacking the rouleaux, every time, lest 
Axel should notice that he got his own 
money again. But this was unavoidable, 
unless Pomuchelskopp would come out 
from his cover, under which he lay in wait 
for Pumpelhagen; so he yielded to the 
necessity, especially since he found the 
business so amusing. 

Axel also took pleasure in this business, 
for he always had money to supply his 
necessities, and the amount that he gave 
for it seemed to him quite insignificant, 
since it had never occurred to him to 
reckon the interest for a whole year. He 


also thought seriously of introducing 
great improvements upon the estate. It 
is an old story, though a sad one, that 
these young masters, who understand 
nothing properly about farming, are al- 
ways introducing improvements, whereby 
they ruin themselves in the speediest man- 
ner. I mean, particularly, with the live 
stock. Why is this so ? I think it is 
mainly because the young masters have 
very little trouble in procuring a new bull 
or a pair of new-fashioned rams, and be- 
cause the laws of cattle-breeding are so 
plainly laid down, that the stupidest per- 
son can discourse wisely about them. 
They need only to shove aside the expe- 
rience of years, and that is not hard for 
them, and then they stand there, with their 
young heads, as important as the old peo- 
ple with their gray ones. 

Upon the Pumpelhagen estate, there was 
a dairy-farm, of Breitenburg cows, which 
the old Kammerrath had purchased with 
Habermann’s assistance, and upon Haber- 
mann’s recommendation. Something new 
must be done here, so Axel journeyed to 
Sommersdorf, in Pomerania, where there 
was a cattle-auction, and bought, upon 
Pomuchelskopp’s advice, a wonderful Ayr- 
shire bull. Why? Well, firstly, because 
he was handsome, secondly, because he 
came from Scotland, and, thirdly, because 
he was something new. There was a 
flock of sheep on the estate, of the 
Negretti-stock, which yielded a great deal 
of wool, and were always profitable, but 
Pomuchelskopp, as he said, had got a tha- 
ler and a half more the stone, at the wool- 
market, so the young Herr let himself be 
persuaded into buying of his neighbor, for 
ready money, a pair of very fine Electoral 
rams. That he could estimate the value 
of them and reckon it against Pomuchels- 
kopp, to his great advantage, did not oc- 
cur to him ; he had enough else to think 
of. 

Habermann strove, with all his might, 
against these new arrangements, but in 
vain ; in the eyes of his young Herr he 
was ah old man, who had fallen astern and 
could not keep up with the times ; and al- 
though the old man based his opposition 
on very strong and reasonable arguments, 
he had always the same answer : “ But, 
good heavens ! we can at least try it ; ” 
not thinking that, in some things, trying 
and ruining are the same. The inspector 
could do nothing, and was only thankful 
his master had not taken to raising 
thorough-bred horses, which was the bus? 
ness he detested, of all others. The 
young wife also, could prevent nothing; 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


she did not know the manner in which 
Axe! relieved himself from his difficulties, 
— without being an indifferent observer, 
she must judge by what she saw, and this 
was just at present with Axel great con- 
tentment and golden prospects. 

In Gurlitz, also, Pomuchelskopp and his 
Hiiuning were in a state of great, though 
not strictly speaking, family contentment ; 
but this they did not expect, in their mod- 
esty, no, they were contented with the 
smooth progress of the money business, 
and their prospects became, literally, more 
and more golden, for the boundary be- 
tween Pumpelhagen and Gurlitz was 
growing more and more undefined, and 
Pomuchelskopp, meanwhile, had only the 
unpleasant task of clipping his Iiauning’s 
wings, lest she should positively fly over 
the hedge, and scratch for worms on the 
other side. 

In Jochen Nussler's house, the old lady 
Contentment had established herself com- 
fortably on the divan, and, if one had 
spoken of golden prospects there, it must 
have been in the sense in which the poets 
speak of the “golden morning sky,” not 
because they think that the glow of the 
morning sky is like the glitter of gold, but 
only that they know nothing more beauti- 
ful than the latter, possibly because they 
see it so seldom. Gottlieb was getting rid 
of his long-haired, Pietistic ways, and be- 
ginning to look at the world with his nat- 
ural eyes, instead of through the blue spec- 
tacles he had acquired at Erlangen, or 
elsewhere. 

To Brasig’s joy, he played Boston — very 
badly; he had been on horse-back once, 
and had fallen off, without getting hurt, 
and when he came to Jochen Nussler’s har- 
vest feast, though he did not exactly dance, 
that is to say, openly, before all the people, 
he had practised a Schottische with Lining 
in the parlor, and, at its close, had sung 
with a clear though rather plaintive voice, 
“ Vivallera ! ” 

But Rudolph? "Well, we will only re- 
peat what Hilgendorf himself said to Bra- 
sig about him: “He, Brasig? Just as I 
was, true as I live ! Bones like ivory ! 
Just looks at a thing, and knows how, just 
as I used to! And books? Won’t touch 
’em ! Just like me ! ” 

Frau Niissler was happy in the happi- 
ness of her children, and young Jochen 
and young Bauschan sat together peace- 
fully, for hours, without saying a word, 
and thought of the time when they should 
have a new crown-prince, young Jochen 
Rudolph, and young Bauschan the seventh. 
That was not exactly a morning sky, but 


143 

for moderate people, like Jochen and Bau- 
schan, an evening sky often looks golden. 

So in every house, in the whole region, 
there was happiness for each after its kind, 
but in one house, where Peace had long 
been an inmate, and had sat in his own 
place by the warm stove, in winter, and 
under the lindens before the door, or in 
the arbor in the garden, in summer, like a 
good old grandfather, and had kept a 
watchful eye upon little Louise’s joyous 
bounds, and had guided the Frau Pastorin’s 
duster, and kept the Herr Pastor’s papers 
in order, the good old grandfather was no 
longer there, — he had silently taken his 
leave, and had shut the door softly behind 
him, and was gone to the place whence he 
came ; and, in his stead, unrest and anxiety 
had entered, for the good old Pastor was 
daily growing weaker. He was not con- 
fined to a sick-bed, and had no particular 
disease, and Doctor Strump, of Rahnstadt, 
with the best intentions in the world, could 
find, out of the three thousand, seven hun- 
dred, seventy and seven diseases which 
humanity is subject to, by good rights, no 
single one which suited him. So he must 
minister to himself, and he did so, for good 
old grandfather Peace, when he took his 
departure, had laid his hand on the Pastor’s 
head, saying, “ I go, but only for a short 
time ; then I will return to thy Regina. 
Thou dost not need me, for I entered thy 
heart years ago, in the solemn hour when 
thou didst choose between God and the 
world. Now sleep, for thou mayest well 
be weary.” 

And he was weary, very weary. Hi3 
Regina had placed him on the sofa, under 
the picture-gallery, according to his desire, 
that he might look out of the window ; his 
Louise had covered him warmly, and they 
had both gone out on tiptoe, that they 
might not disturb his repose. Out of 
doors, the first snowflakes of the winter 
were falling from the sky, gently, ever 
gently; and it was as quiet without as 
within, as within his heart ; and it seemed 
to him as if the outstretched hands of 
Christ beckoned and pointed, — no one 
saw it, but so his Regina afterwards ex- 
plained the matter, — and he got up, and 
opened his old chest of drawers, which 
he had from his father, and which his 
mother had always polished, herself, and 
had seated himself in the arm-chair before 
it, wishing once more to look over things 
which he had valued so much. 

The chest was his cabinet of curiosities, 
for everything that had been important or 
remarkable in his life had its memento 
here ; it was his family medicine chest, in 


144 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


which he stored his remedies for the trou- 
bles and cares of this world, which he used 
when he was sick at heart; simple reme- 
dies, but they always answered the pur- 
pose. They were not put up in vials and 
bottles and boxes, and no labels were fas- 
tened on them ; they were merely plucked 
by his hand, in happy hours, and preserved 
for use. Everything, by which he could 
recall to his memory the purest joys of his 
life, was gathered here, and whenever he 
was sad, he refreshed his soul with them, ! 
and he never closed the old chest without 
deriving strength from his remedies, and 
expressing gratitude for them. There lay 
the Bible, which, when a boy, he had re- 
ceived from his father, there was the beau- 
tiful crystal glass, which his best friend 
had given him, when he left the University, 
there was the pocket-book, which his 
Regina had embroidered for him, when 
they were betrothed ; there were sea-shells, 
which a sailor, whom he once directed into 
the right way, had sent to him, years after ; 
there were little Christmas and New Year 
notes, from Louise and Mining, and Lining, 
which they had indited with infinite labor, 
and also their first attempts at needle- 
work ; there was the withered bridal- 
wreath worn by his Regina on their wed- 
ding-day, and the great silver-clasped, i 
pictorial Bible, Habermann’s gift, and the ] 
silver mounted meerschaum pipe, Brasig’s < 
gift, upon his seventy-fifth birth-day. In ' 
the cupboard underneath, were old shoes ; : 
the shoes which Louise and Regina and ] 
himself had worn, when they first entered i 
the Pastor’s house. < 

Old shoes are not beautiful, but these 1 
must have been very dear to him, for he ] 
had taken them out, and placed each pair i 
by itself, and looked long at them, and s 
thought much, and then he had taken his ] 
first Bible upon his lap, and opened at our i 
Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, and read i 
therein. No one saw him, to be sure, but j 
it must have been so; his Regina knew 1 
very well how it all happened. And then he ] 
grew weary, and laid his head back against 
the chair, and fell softly asleep. 1 

So they found him, and the little Frau s 
Pastorin sat down by him in the chair, g 
and put her arms around him and closed 
his eyes, and laid her head against his, and < 
cried silently, and Louise threw herself 1 
at his feet, and folded her hands upon his - 
knees, and looked, with tearful eyes, at the i 
two dear, still faces. Then the little Frau i 
Pastorin folded down the leaf in the Bible, i 
and took it gently out of his hand, and she c 
rose up, and Louise rose also, and clung 1 
about her neck, and they both broke into 1 
loud weeping, and sought protection and 


comfort in each other, until it grew to be 
twilight. Then the little Frau Pastorin 
took the Pastor’s boots and her shoes, and 
put them back into the cupboard, saying, 
“ I bless the day, when you came together 
into this house ; ” and Louise put her little 
shoes beside them, saying, “And I the 
day, when you first crossed the threshold,” 
and then they locked up the chest, with all 
its joys. 

After three days, good Pastor Behrens 
was buried, in his churchyard, in a place 
which he had selected, during his life, 
which one could see, through the clear 
panes of glass, from the living-room of the 
parsonage, and upon which fell the first 
beams of the morning sun. 

The funeral guests had departed, Haber- 
mann also had been obliged to go; but 
Uncle Brasig had explained that he 
should spend the night at the parsonage. 
Through the day, he had lent a helping 
hand, and now, as he saw the two women 
standing at the window, arm in arm, lost 
in sorrowful thoughts, he stole softly out 
of the room, up to his sleeping-chamber, 
and looked, through the twilight, over to 
the churchyard, where the dark grave lay 
in the white snow. He thought of the 
man who lay beneath it, how often he had 
extended the hand, to help and to counsel 
him, and he vowed to repay the debt he 
owed him, with all his might, to the Frau 
Pastorin. And underneath, in the living- 
room, stood the two bereaved women, also 
looking over at the dark grave, and vow- 
ing silently, in their hearts, each to the 
other, all the love and friendship, which he 
had so often enjoined, and so constantly 
practiced. And the little Frau Pastorin 
thanked God and her Pastor that she had 
so sweet a comforter in her sorrow as she 
held in her arms, and she stroked Louise’s 
soft hair, and kissed her again and again ; 
and Louise prayed to God and her other 
father, that she might be endowed with all 
that was good and lovely, that she might 
lay it all in her foster-mother’s lap. 

Fresh graves are like hot-beds, which 
the gardeners plant; the fairest flowers 
spring out of them; but poisonous toad- 
stools shoot up, also, from these beds. 

That same evening, two other people in 
Gurlitz, were standing at a window, and 
looking through the panes, in the twilight, 
— not at the God’s acre, that was far from 
their thoughts, no, at the Pastor’s acre, — 
and Pomuchelskopp said to his Hanning, 
now they could not fail, now the field fell 
out of the lease, now they would have it, 
he would speak to the new Pastor about it, 
before his appointment. 

“Muchel,” said Hanning, “the Pum- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


pelliagen people will never allow it, 
they will not let that field slip out of their 
fingers.” 

“ Hauning, out of their fingers ? I hold it 
in my own hands.” 

“ Yes, if the young Herr must accommo- 
date you ; but how if we should get a 
young priest here, who will farm it him- 
self?” 

“ Kliicking, I don’t recognize you, my 
dear Kliicking ! We have the choice ; we 
will choose a Pietist. That kind are all 
taken up with their Bibles and Psalm- 
books and tracts, and have no leisure for 
farming.” 

“ Yes, but you don’t choose alone, 
there are Pumpelhagen, and Rexow, and 
Warnitz.” 

“Kliicking, Warnitz and Rexow ! "What 
can they do against Pumpelhagen and 
Gurlitz ? — If the Pumpelhagen people and 
my people agree ” 

“Don’t trust to your people, you will 
get nothing but vexation. Don’t you know 
how the Pastor’s wife treated you? and 
she can do anything she pleases with the 
villagers, they stick to her like burs.” 

“ Can’t I get her out of the way ? 
She shall move out of the village ! There 
is no Pastor’s-widow-house here, and am I 
likely to build one ? Make the most of 
your meal, Frau Pastorin, you will have 
to go further ! ” 

“ Kopp, you are a great blockhead ! The 
election of the new Pastor comes first.” 
With that she left him. 

“ Kliicking,” he called after her, “ I prom- 
ise you, dear Kliicking, I will make it all 
right.” 

Yes, many a poisonous weed grows out 
of a fresh grave, when the heirs reach out 
impatient hands for the money and goods 
of the silent man, when a neighbor profits 
by the distress of the widow and orphan to 
make his own house and garden and fields 
larger and finer, and when the coarse fel- 
low sits in his comfortable sofa corner, and 
grumbles at it, as a great trial, that he 
must go out to water a new milch cow. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Brasig had remained at the parsonage 
through the week. He made all the ar- 
rangements rendered necessary by such a 
change ; he made out the inventory, 1 
wrote whole heaps of the drollest mourn- 
ing letters, and carried them to the post 
himself, in spite of snow and cold and 
podagra ; he settled with the tailor and 
shoemaker at Rahnstadt, and now, on the 
Monday after the funeral, he was sitting 
with the Frau Pastorin and Louise at the 
breakfast-table, intending to leave imme- 
10 


145 

| diately after, when a carriage stopped be- 
fore the door, and Franz von Rainbow 
jumped down, and soon after, healthy and 
joyous, entered the room. But how his 
face changed when he saw the black 
mourning dresses of the two women. 
“ Good heavens ! ” he exclaimed, in his first 
surprise, “ what has happened ? Where 
is the Herr Pastor ? ” 

The little Frau Pastorin rose from her 
chair, and going up to the young Herr 
she gave him her hand, and said, with an 
effort, “ My Pastor has gone a journey 
to his last home, and he left greetings for 
all, all ” — here she was overcome, and 
put her handkerchief to her eyes, “all 
whom he once loved, you also.” 

And Louise came up, and gave him her 
hand, without speaking. The color had 
risen in her face, when she first saw and 
recognized him, but now she was com- 
posed again, and seated herself. And 
Brasig shook hands, and talked of this and 
that, to turn their attention to other sub- 
jects, and away from their fresh grief ; 
but Franz did not listen, he stood like one 
thunderstruck, the news was so unex- 
pected, and fell so heavily upon his joyous 
hopes. 

He had spent two years at the acad- 
emy in Eldena, had been industrious, and 
had stored his mind with all the sciences 
which he would need in the widest field 
of agriculture, or which could assist him 
in his chosen calling ; the practical part of 
it he had already acquired, under Haber- 
mann’s instruction ; he was now of age, 
and could take possession of his property, 
nothing stood in the way of his establish- 
ing a household, but his own consideration. 
This, and the late Pastor’s quiet, sensible 
letters, which had carefully avoided the 
| remotest question or allusion, and with 
all their joyous heartiness had showed so 
much intelligence and reason, had kept 
him from hasty steps and rash actions. 
He had not a cold heart, it beat as hotly in 
his breast as that of any other young 
man, who falls over head and ears in love 
at first sight, and at once offers his heart 
and his hand ; but, from his childhood, he 
had been thrown upon his own judgment, 
and been accountable for his own actions, 
and had decided the smallest matters after 
much reflection, — some said too much re- 
flection, — but it did no harm 1 In this 
matter he was right, he would take this 
important step in life with a warm heart, 
but with a cool head. He had restrained 
his heart, had locked all his sweet dreams* 
of joy and happiness in his own breast, 
like the sweet kernel in a hard nut ; he 
would not crack the nut for his mere 


146 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


pleasure, he would wait patiently, till 
favorable circumstances, like the sun and 
rain, should make the shell open gently 
of itself, and the green sprout should come 
to light, and a tree should grow from it, 
beneath whose shade he and his Louise 
might sit happily together. And when 
his heart beat faster, and urged him to 
visit her, and see her again, he strove 
against it, with a right feeling toward his 
maiden, she should not be troubled till she 
had time to learn and to comprehend her- 
self; and he had a feeling of pride, that 
he would have no match-maker meddling 
with his happiness. And when his heart 
often bled in the conflict, he called to it, 
fresh and strong; “Hands off! We are 
playing no lottery, here ! Such a gain 
is too easily won, and too easily lost. The 
reward shall pay for the trouble. No bit- 
ter, no sweet ! ” 

But now he was of age, now he was in 
all respects a man, now his own pride and 
his honor toward the dearest, sweetest 
maiden in the world were to receive their 
reward, now the tender green of the 
sprouting kernel pushed through the soft- 
ened shell, and through the dark earth, up 
to the light, and it was time to care for 
it, that the tree might grow ; and it was 
not time, merely, it was also duty. Now 
he threw himself into his carriage, the 
strife between the cool judgment and the 
warm heart was at an end, the former he 
left at home, safely stowed away, so that 
it might not be lost, for he might need it 
afterwards, and the latter he took with 
him, and comforted and soothed it, and 
sung it sweet songs, all the way, as if it 
were a child in the cradle, and he the 
mother. 

And now all this joy was gone, the 
songs of happiness and love had been sung 
in vain, between these two sorrowful, 
black-robed forms, his heart throbbed as 
restlessly as before, and though he had 
left his judgment at home, his kind feel- 
ings, his reverence for so great a sorrow, 
and his remembrance of the worthy, silent 
man, were too strong for him, and against 
such a power, no honest heart could strive ; 
it surrenders, although with wounds and 
suffering. Love is full of selfishness, and 
knows no consideration for others, people 
say, — and there is truth in it ! It is a 
world for itself, and goes its own way, as 
if it had no concern for anything else ; 
but if it comes from God, its path is 
marked out by eternal laws, that it should 
do no injustice, nowhere give offence, and 
beam upon other worlds with its sweet, 
gentle light, like the evening star, when 
it sheds peace upon the weary heart. 


I Such was Franz’s love, it could not 
offend, could not bring trouble upon others, 
it must comfort and heal ; so he restrained 
his heart, and was silent, and when he 
took his leave of the parsonage, he felt 
like a wanderer, who has come, with labor 
and weariness, to the church tower, which 
beckoned to him in the distance, and when 
he reaches the first houses in the village, 
he finds that this is not the right place, 
and that the end of his journey lies far be- 
yond ; he takes one deep, refreshing 
draught, and travels sturdily on. 

It was a lovely, bright winter’s day as 
Franz walked towards Pumpelhagen, let- 
ting the carriage follow slowly behind him ; 
Brasig went with him. The young man 
was absorbed in his own thoughts, Brasig 
quite the contrary, so they did not accord 
well together. Brasig should have held 
his tongue instead of telling all the stories 
which haunted his brain, but it was one 
of Uncle Brasig’s happiest peculiarities, 
that he never observed when he was 
troublesome. At last, however, he became 
aware that the young Herr gave him no 
replies ; he stood still, as it happened, 
in the very place where Axel had treated 
him so shabbily, and asked, “ How ? 
Am I perhaps an inconvenience to you ? 
It has happened to me before, in this very 
place, with your gracious Herr Cousin ; I 
can go on by myself, as I did then.” 

“ Dear Herr Inspector,” said Franz, 
grasping the old man’s hand ; “ you must 
not be offended with me ; the death of the 
good Pastor, and the sad change in the 
dear old parsonage, have affected me very 
deeply.” 

“ So ? ” said Brasig, pressing his hand, 
“ if that is it, then I am not at all offended, 
and I always said also, to the Frau Pasto- 
rin and the little Louise, that you were an 
educated farmer, like the man in the book, 
since you keep kind feelings in your heart, 
and can look out for the good-for-nothing 
farm-boys; and I have always told Ru- 
dolph he should take you for a model. Do 
you know Rudolph ? ” And he began to 
tell about Rudolph and Mining, and Gott- 
lieb and Lining, and brought the whole 
region into the story, and Franz compelled 
himself to listen attentively, so that before 
he reached Pumpelhagen, he knew all 
about everybody, even about Pomuchels- 
kopp and his Hauning. 

“ So,” said Brasig, when they reached 
the court-yard, “ you go now to your gra- 
cious Herr Cousin, and I to Habermann, 
and what I have said to you about Pomu- 
chelskopp, and his secret projects must re- 
main prceter propter between us, and you 
may rely upon it, I will keep watch of 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


147 


him, and if he attempts any more scurvy 
tricks I will let you know.” 

But Franz did not go into the manor 
house, he ran before Briisig into the farm- 
house, into the room where he had spent 
so many quiet, happy hours with his good 
old instructor, and he fell upon the old 
man’s neck, and old and young lay in each 
other’s arms, as if the time and the years 
between the two had been blotted out, 
and the old eyes grew moist, and the 
young cheeks took a fresher color, as if 
age were giving its dew and its blessing 
that youth might grow fresher and brighter. 
So it was, and so shall it ever be 1 

Then Franz went up to Fritz Triddel- 
sitz, and offered his hand : “ Good day, 
Fritz !” 

But Fritz had his pride, also, his burgher- 
pride, and he had also his revenge, the 
revenge which he had stamped into the 
pease-field, after the ditch-rendezvous, so 
he said, coldly, “ How do you find yourself, 
Herr von Rainbow ? ” 

“ Fritz, have you no sense ? ” said Franz, 
and turned away and left him, as if Fritz 
were an inexplicable riddle, and he would 
turn to something else ; he shook hands 
with the two old men, and went to his 
cousin. 

“ Karl,” said Briisig, sitting down to the 
table, where the dinner stood ready, “ an 
excellent young man, this Ilerr Von ! And 
what a beautiful piece of roast pork you 
have here ! I have seen no such roast pork, in 
seven cold winters.” 

The reception given Franz, by his cousin 
Axel, was cordial, and the joy he expressed 
was sincere, as might well be supposed, 
for the two cousins were the only male 
descendants of their race. Frida, whom 
Franz had previously met at her wedding, 
was particularly pleased with the kind- 
hearted, sensible young man, and did 
everything in her power to make his visit 
agreeable, and as Habermann, having 
given Brasig his company a little way 
after dinner, was returning across the 
court, she sent out, and invited him in to 
coffee, believing rightly that it would 
please Franz. Upon this occasion, it came 
out that Franz had gone already to the 
farm-house, and had made his first call on 
the inspector. This annoyed Axel a little, 
he wrinkled up his forehead at the intelli- 
gence, and his wife, at least, noticed before 
long that he began to put on the master. 
This would have been a matter of indif- 
ference, if he had not been so unreason- 
able and unjust as to punish Habermann, 
by a cold, ceremonious manner, for the 
fault of Franz, — if it were a fault. 

The company was not quite harmonious ; 


every friendly word, which was exchanged 
between Habermann and Franz, disturbed 
Axel; he became stiffer and colder, and 
the whole conversation, in spite of the 
lovely warm sunshine which the young 
wife always diffused around her, was drop- 
ping to the freezing-point, when Haber- 
mann suddenly sprang up, went to the 
window, and, without a word, ran out of 
the room. Axel’s face turned a dusky red 
with the anger that rose in him ; “ That is 
very strange behavior!” cried he, “the 
Herr Inspector seems to consider himself 
exempt from the ordinary rules of polite- 
ness. 

“ It must be something very important,” 
said Frida, going to the window. “ What 
is he doing to that laborer ? ” 

“ That is the day-laborer, Regel, ” said 
Franz, who was also looking out of the 
window. 

“ Regel ! Regel ! ” said Axel, springing 
up, “ that is the messenger that I sent to 
Rostock yesterday, with two thousand 
thalers in gold; he cannot be back so 
soon.” 

“ That must be what has disconcerted 
the old man so,” said Franz. “ Only see, 
he is laying hands on the fellow ! I never 
saw him so excited ! ” and he ran out of 
the door, and Axel after him. 

As they came out the old inspector had 
seized the young, strong day-laborer in 
the breast, and shook him till his hat fell 
off into the snow. 

“ Th»se are lies ! ” cried he, as he shook 
him, “ those are miserable lies ! Herr 
von Rambow, this fellow has lost the 
money ! ” 

“ No, they took it from me ! ” cried the 
laborer, standing there, pale as death. 

Axel also turned pale ; the two thousand 
thalers should have been paid in Rostock, 
long ago, but he had delayed till the last 
moment, and then borrowed the sum of 
Pomuchelskopp, — and now it was gone. 

“ They are lies ! ” repeated Habermann, 

“ I know the fellow. They took the money 
away from you by force ? No ten fellows 
could take even a pipe of tobacco from 
you by force ! ” and he attacked him 
again. 

“ Hold ! ” cried Franz, coming between 
them. “ Let the man just tell his story, 
quietly. How was it about the money V ” 

“They took it from me,” said Regel. 
As I was beyond Rahnstadt, this morning, * 
near the Gallin wood, two fellows came 
toward me, and one of them asked me for 
a little fire for his pipe, and while I was 
striking it, the other seized me behind, by 
the belt, and pulled me off, and they took 
the black package out of my pocket, and 


148 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


then they ran off into the Gallin wood, 
and I after them, but I could not catch 
them.” 

“ What is that ? ” interrupted Axel, 
“ how did you come to be near the Gal- 
lin wood this morning ? It lies only half 
a mile beyond Rahnstadt. Did I not 
charge you expressly, to get a pass from 
the burgomeister at Rahnstadt, and ride 
all night, so that the money might be in 
Rostock at noon to-day ? ” (This was the 
last day on which the note could be paid, 
it would otherwise be protested.) 

“ Yes, Herr,” said the laborer, “ I got 
the pass, and here it is.” and he pulled it 
out of his hat band, “ but to ride all the 
winter night was too much, and I stayed 
with my friends in Rahnstadt, thinking I 
could get to Rostock in time.” 

“Krischan Dasel ! ” called Habermann, 
across the courtyard. He had become 
perfectly composed, for it was merely the 
conviction that the laborer was lying to 
his face, which had roused the old man to 
such a state of excitement. 

“ Herr von Rainbow,” said he, as Kris- 
chan came up, “ don’t you wish the justice 
to be sent for?” and as Axel assented, 
he said, “ Krischan, take two of the car- 
riage horses, and put them to the chaise. 
You must bring the Ilerr Burgomeister 
from Rahnstadt ; I will give you a letter 
to him. And you, Regel, come with me, 
I will show you a quiet place, where you 
can recollect yourself.” With that, he 
went off with the day-laborer, and locked 
him into a chamber. 

When Axel returned to the house with 
his cousin, he had an excellent opportu- 
nity to make the young man acquainted 
with his pecuniary embarrassments ; but, 
although he knew that Franz could easily 
and willingly help him, he was silent. It 
is a strange but indisputable fact, that 
people who run in debt will turn sooner to 
the hard heart of the usurer, for assistance, 
than to the soft ones of friends and rela- 
tives. They are too proud to acknowledge 
their debts, but not too proud to beg and 
to borrow of the most good-for-nothing 
Jew money-lenders. But it is not pride, 
it is nothing but the most pitiable cow- 
ardice, which is afraid of the reasonable 
and well-meant remonstrances of friends 
and relatives. 

So Axel was silent, and walked rest- 
Tessly up and down the room, while Frida 
was talking with Franz over this singular 
occurrence. The business was a very seri- 
ous one for him, the money must be pro- 
cured, or he would be sued for it, — his note 
was probably already protested. He 


could no longer endure it ; he ordered his 
horse, and, although it was growing dark, 
he went off for a ride, — so he said, at 
least, — but he went to Pomuchelskopp. 

Pomuchelskopp listened to Herr von 
Rambow’s troubles with a great deal of 
sympathy, and lamented the wickedness 
of mankind, and expressed the opinion 
that Herr von Rambow might as well have 
no inspector at all as one who had not 
understanding enough to choose a safe 
messenger on such an important business, — 
he would not say anything but there must 
be something behind ; he would say noth- 
ing prematurely, but this much he would 
say, Habermann had always looked out 
sharply for his own interests, for example, 
there was the Pastor’s acre ; he had ad- 
vised the late Herr Kammerrath to rent 
it, so that his own salary might be in- 
creased; but it was certainly an injury to 
the Pumpelhagen husbandry, as he could 
convince the Herr, and he inflicted upon 
Axel a long chapter of calculations which 
the latter did not attempt to follow, for, 
in the first place, he did not understand 
calculations, and secondly, he was ab- 
sorbed, for the moment, in thoughts of 
his troubles. He said “ Yes ” to every- 
thing, and at last came out with the re- 
quest that Pomuchelskopp should advance 
another two thousand thalers. 

Pomuchelskopp hesitated a little at 
first, and scratched behind his ear, but 
at last said, “ Yes ; ” on condition that 
Axel would not rent the Pastor’s acre 
again, of the new Pastor. This might well 
have startled the young Herr, and Mu- 
che) was conscious of the danger, so he 
proVed to him again, with figures, that it 
would be much better that the Gurlitz 
farm should undertake this lease, and that 
in this way both would be gainers. Axel 
gave but little attention, and finally con- 
sented to give the desired promise in 
writing; his difficulty was pressing, he 
must meet the first necessity, and he was 
just the sort of man to kill his milch cow, 
in order to sell her skin. 

The business was now settled; Axel 
wrote his bond, and Pomuchelskopp packed 
up the two thousand thalers, and sent it, 
with a letter from Axel, by his own ser- 
vant, to Rahnstadt, to the post. That was 
the best way; no one in Pumpelhagen 
need know anything about it. As Axel 
rode home, he repeated two lies to himself, 
until he really believed them ; first, that 
Habermann alone was properly to be 
blamed for the loss of the money, and 
second, that he ought to be glad to get 
rid of the Pastor’s acre. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


149 


CHAPTER XXV. 

Meanwhile, the Rahnstadt burgo-meis- 
ter, who was Axel’s magistrate, had ar- 
rived at Pumpelhagen, bringing Herr 
Slusuhr, the notary, as his recording clerk. 

The man had acted very discreetly ; as 
soon as he had read Habermann’s letter, 
he had sent policemen round to all the ale- 
houses and shops, where laborers resorted, 
to inquire whether and when the day-lab- 
orer Regel, of Pumpelhagen, had been 
there, and in this way he found out enough 
to assist him in the examination. The 
laborer had come to him, yesterday after- 
noon, about four o’clock, and had got his 
pass made out; he had showed him the 
package of money, — the gold was sewed 
in black-waxed cloth, — and the burgo- 
meister had looked at it closely enough, 

; to see that the seal had not been tam- 
pered with. The man had told him, — he 
was on the whole, rather talkative, — that 
he should travel all night ; it was pretty 
hard, to be sure, at this time of year ; but 
the man was a strong, hearty fellow ; it 
would be no darker, for the snow made it 
light, and, towards midnight, the moon 
i rose ; so he had advised him to set off im- 
> mediately. This however, as he had ascer- 
: tained, he had not done, he had gone into 
j several ale-houses, and treated himself to 

• liquor ; even by nine o’clock he was not 
out of Rahnstadt, he had stopped before a 
shop, and drank brandy, and bragged, and 
talked of his great sum of money, had 
also showed the packet to the shopman. 
Where he had stayed, afterwards, he did 
not know ; but so much seemed to be cer- 
tain, the man was grossly intoxicated; 
and the justice now asked Axel and Ha- 
ll bermann, whether the fellow were in the 

habit of drinking. 

“ I do not know,” said Axel ; “ in these 
i particulars, I must rely upon my inspector.” 

Habermann looked at him, as if this 
j speech seemed to him a very strange one, 
and he would have said something about it ; 
but he merely remarked to the burgo- 
meister that he had never noticed any- 
; thing of the kind, or even heard of it; 
Regel was always the soberest fellow on 

* the place, and in that respect he had no 
complaints to make of any of the people. 

“ May be,” said the burgomeister, “ but 
it wasn’t quite right with the man ; there 
is always a first time, — he had certainly 
been drinking before he came to me. Let 
his wife come in.” 

The wife came. She was a young, 
pretty woman; it was not long since she 
had been running about, a young girl, as 


fresh and bright as only our Mecklenburg 
country girls can be, but now sickness had 
washed off the maiden roses from her 
cheeks, and household labor had made the 
soft, rounded outlines a little angular, — 
our housewives in the country grow old 
early, — moreover she wore mourning, 
and was trembling all over, with anxiety. 

Habermann pitied the poor woman, he 
went up to her, and said, “ Regelsch, don’t 
be afraid; just tell the truth about every- 
thing, and it will all come right again.” 

“ Good Lord, Herr Inspector, what is 
this ? What does it all mean ? What has 
my husband done ?” 

“Just tell me, Regelsch, does your hus- 
band often drink more brandy than he can 
carry ? ” asked the justice. 

“ No, Herr, never in his life, he drinks no 
brandy at all, we don’t keep it in the 
house ; only at harvest time, he drinks a 
glass, when it is sent down from the manor 
house.” 

“ Had he drank any brandy, yesterday, 
when he left home ? ” 

“ No, Herr ! He ate something first, 
and then he started off, about half past 
two. No, Herr, — but wait, wait 1 No, I 
did not see him, but yet — oh, Lord, yes ! 
Last evening, when I went to the cup- 
board, the brandy-bottle was empty.” 

“ I thought you didn't keep any brandy 
in the house,” said the burgomeister. 

“ No, we don’t ; but this was a little of 
the funeral brandy ; we buried our little 
girl last Friday, and there was some left 
over. Ah, and how he grieved 1 how he 
grieved ! ” 

“ And do you think your husband drank 
it?” 

“ Yes, Herr, who else should have done 
it?” 

The evidence was recorded, and Regelsch 
was dismissed. 

“ So ! ” said Slusuhr in an insolent way 
to Axel, and winked towards the burgo- 
meister, “ we have got at the brandy, if 
we could only get at the money ! ” 

“ Herr Notary, write ! ” said the burgo- 
meister, quietly and with dignity, and 
pointed with his finger to his place : “ The 
day-laborer, Regel, is brought in, admon- 
ished to tell the truth, and gives evi- 
dence.” 

“ Herr Burgomeister,” said Axel, spring- 
ing up, “I don’t see what this brandy 
story has to do with my money. The 
fellow has stolen it I ” 

“ That is just what I want to find out,” 
said the burgomeister, very quietly, 
“ whether he has stolen or, more properly, 
embezzled the money, and whether he was 


150 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


altogether in a condition to do such a 
thing,” and going up to the young Herr 
he said, very kindly, but also very de- 
cidedly , “ Herr von Rainbow, a thief, who 
intends to steal two thousand thalers, does 
not begin by getting drunk. Moreover, I 
must tell you, that as a magistrate, I have 
to consider not only your interests, but 
also those of the accused.” 

The day-laborer, Regel, came in. He 
was deadly pale ; but the distress which 
he had shown in his whole manner, before 
the old inspector, in the afternoon, had 
left him, he looked almost like old oaken 
wood, into which no worm ventures. 

He acknowledged that he had drunk 
the brandy at home, more yet in Rahnstadt, 
and that he had been with the shopkeeper, 
about nine o’clock ; then he had spent the 
night with his friends, in Rahnstadt, and 
about six o’clock had started for Rostock ; 
but there he stuck to his story: by the 
Gallin wood, two fellows had attacked 
him, and taken the money by force. While 
the last of his deposition was being taken 
down, the door opened, and the laborer’s 
wife rushed up to her husband, — for po- 
lice-laws are not very strict, in our primi- 
tive Mecklenburg tribunals, — and grasped 
his arm: “Jochenl Jochenl Have you 
made your wife and children unhappy for- 
ever ? ” 

“Marik! Marik!” cried the man, “I 
have not done it. My hands are clean. 
Have I ever, in my life, stolen anything ? ” 

“ Jochen ! ” cried the wife, “ tell the 
truth to the gentlemen ! ” 

The laborer’s breast throbbed and his 
face flushed a deep red ; but in a moment 
he was as deadly pale as before, and he 
cast a shy, uncertain glance at his wife : 
“ Marik, have I ever, in all my life, stolen 
or taken anything ? ” 

The wife let her hands fall from his 
shoulder : “ No, Jochen, you have not ! 
You have not, truly 1 But you lie, you 
have often lied to me.” She put her apron 
to her eyes, and went out of the room. 
Habermann followed her. The day-la- 
borer, also, was led away. 

The burgomeister had not disturbed the 
interview between the man and wife, — it 
was not in order, but it might furnish him 
a clue, by which he could draw the truth 
to light. Axel had started up at the 
woman’s words, “You lie, you have often 
lied to me,” and walked hastily up and 
down the room ; his conscience smote him, 
he did not exactly know why, this evening, 
he only knew that he also had never stolen 
or taken anything, but he had lied. But 
so it is with the soul of a man who is not 


sincere, even at the moment when his con- 
science troubles him, he lies again, for his 
own advantage. His case was. quite a dif- 
ferent one from the laborer’s ; ne had only 
told a few falsehoods, for the benefit of his 
wife, that she might not be disturbed, the 
laborer had lied to conceal his guilt. Yes, 
Herr von Rambow, only keep on like that, 
and the devil will surely, in time, reap a 
fine harvest ! 

Slusuhr had finished his writing, and 
again went boldly up to Axel : 

“ Yes, Herr von Rambow, he who lies 
will steal.” 

That was an infamous speech, to a man 
in Axel’s present humor, and when he 
knew, also, how near Slusuhr’s business 
came to stealing ; he was not merely aston- 
ished, he was terrified at the fellow’s impu- 
dence. He might not have been so, if he 
had known what people said about the 
notary. 

People used to say, that the Herr Nota- 
ry’s father had wished to sell him, when a 
little boy, to the Grand Duke of Mecklen- 
burg, as a runner, and with this design had 
taken him to the Herr Doctor and Surgeon 
Kohlman, at New Brandenburg, to have 
his spleen cut out, so that he could run the 
better ; but the Herr Doctor, who knew 
everything else, and claimed to have been 
appointed by the Lord Minister of the 
Supreme Wisdom for New Brandenburg, 
had, in an unfortunate moment, when his 
eyes were a little dim, cut out the con- 
science, instead of the spleen, so that 
Slusuhr had to journey through life, with 
a spleen, and without a conscience, and not 
a* a runner, but as a notary. 

There was nothing more for the magis- 
trate to do at present ; the witnesses, and 
the friends of the laborer, who had last 
seen him, were not at hand, and the burgo- 
meister gave orders that the prisoner 
should be kept under guard, for this night, 
at Pumpelhagen, and taken to Rahnstadt 
the next day. 

“ He shall be put under the manor house, 
in the front cellar,” said Axel to Haber- 
mann, who had come in again. 

“ Herr von Rambow,” said Habermann, 
“ Isn’t it better to leave him in the chamber 
at the farm-house ? There are iron bars — ” 

“No,” said Axel, sharply, “there are 
iron bars in the cellar, too ; I wish to avoid 
collusions, which might take place at the 
farm-house.” 

“Herr von Rambow, I am a very light 
sleeper, and if you wish it, I can have 
another person to watch at the door.” 

“ What I have ordered, I have ordered. 
The business is of too much importance, 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


for me to trust to your light sleep, and to 
a comrade of the rascal’s.” 

Habermann looked at him inquiringly, 
and said, “As you command,” and went 
out. 

It was nearly ten o’clock, the supper ta- 
ble had long been waiting, Marie Moller 
was scolding because the baked fish would 
be cooked to death, Frida was also annoyed 
over the long delay of the supper, and 
only through her conversation with Franz 
was able to muster a little patience, when 
the gentlemen came in, after the trial. 
Frida went up to the burgomeister, in her 
bright way :“Isn’t it so ? He hasn’t stolen 
the money ? ” 

“ No, gracious lady,” said the burgo- 
meister, with quiet decision, “ the day- 
laborer has not stolen it, but it has been 
stolen from him, or he has lost it.” 

“ Thank God ! ” cried she, out of a full 
heart, “that the man is no thief 1 The 
thought that we had dishonest people on 
the place, would have been dreadful ! ” 

“ Do you think that our people are bet- 
ter than all others? They are just such 
a set as on any other estate, they all steal,” 
observed Axel. 

“ Herr von Rambow,” said Habermann, 
who had also come in to supper, “ our peo- 
ple are honest, I have been here long 
enough to be fully convinced of it. No 
thieving has occurred, during the whole 
time.” 

“ Ah, so you have always said, and now 
we have this, — now we have this ! My 
foolish credulity has cost me two thousand 
thalers. And if you knew the people so 
well, why did you send this particular 
man? ” 

Habermann looked at him in astonish- 
ment. “ As it seems,” said he, “ you wish 
to put the blame upon me ; but if there 
has been a fault in the matter, I do not 
take it upon myself. It is true,” he added 
hastily, and his face flushed with anger, “ I 
sent this man ; but only because you had 
employed him constantly as a messenger, 
in carrying money ; he has already been 
sent by you more than ten times to Gur- 
litz, and the Herr Notary, here, can testify 
how often he has been to him on such 
errands.” 

Frida looked hastily over to Slusuhr, 
upon these words, and the Herr Notary 
had turned his eyes towards her ; they said 
nothing, but, different as their thoughts 
were, it seemed as if each had read the 
very soul of the other. Frida read, in the 
secret, malicious joy in the notary’s eyes, 
that he was the chief enemy of her happi- 
ness, and the notary read, in the clear, 


151 

sensible eyes of the young wife, that she 
was the chief obstacle in the way of his 
and Pomuchelskopp’s plans. Axel would 
have given a hasty answer to Habermann’s 
words, but he held his peace when he saw 
the old man’s steadfast gaze, and then 
Frida’s questioning glance resting upon 
him. Slusuhr was also silent, and lay in 
wait ; he was the only one who could see 
through the thorn-bush, which was grow- 
ing in this garden, and now he lay behind 
the thorn-bush, and watched, to see if a 
hare would not run in his direction. 

The justice and Franz were the only 
ones who had no suspicion of the disturb- 
ance caused by Habermann’s hasty words, 
and they alone carried on the conversation 
at table. When the company rose from 
the table, they separated ; the justice re- 
mained through the night. 

All were asleep in Pumpelhagen, only 
two married couples were still waking; 
one couple was the Herr von Rambow and 
his wife, the other was the day-laborer, 
Regel and his wife. The one pair sat close 
together, in a warm room, and the night 
was so silent about them that one might 
well have a desire to open his heart, and 
find courage to speak the truth. But it 
was not so. Frida begged her husband 
earnestly to confide in her, she knew al- 
ready that he was in great pecuniary em- 
barrassment ; they would retrench, but 
the dealings with Pomuchelskopp and 
Slusuhr must be given up ; he should talk 
with Habermann, he would show him the 
right way. 

Everything went by halves with Axel, 
he did not exactly lie, but neither did he 
tell the truth. That he was in temporary 
embarrassment, he would not deny; when 
a man had two thousand thalers stolen, he 
might well be embarrassed ; he had ex- 
changed nothing as yet, had also been able 
to sell nothing, — that he had sold a fine 
crop of wheat, in anticipation, and got the 
money for it, he did not tell her. His 
dealings with Pomuchelskopp and Slusuhr 
— he said nothing about David — could 
do him no harm, those were old, made up 
stories, — he did not speak of the new 
loan from Pomuchelskopp, — and the peo- 
ple were prejudiced against him ; as for 
Habermann, — and here he became excited 
for the first time, — he could not consult 
about money matters with his inspector, it 
was not suitable for him, as master. Axel 
did not exactly tell falsehoods, and when 
he put his arm around her, and said that 
it would all come right again, he said what 
at the moment he believed to be the truth. 
She left him with a heavy heart. 


152 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


The other pair were not sitting in a 
warm room ; the laborer lay in the cold 
cellar, and his wife crouched on her knees 
outside, before the cellar-window, in the 
fine, cold November rain; they were not 
close together, an iron grating divided 
them. “ Jochen,” whispered she, through 
the broken window-panes, “ tell the 
truth.” 

“ They took it from me,” was the 
reply. 

“ Jochen, who ? ” 

“ Eh, do I know ? ” said he, and it was 
the truth ; he did not know who the wo- 
man was who had taken the black packet, 
in broad daylight, and on the public road, 
out of his waistcoat pocket, as he, not yet 
recovered from the intoxication of yester- 
day, and having just taken a couple of 
glasses on an empty stomach, was tum- 
bling along towards Gallin. He did not 
lie, but he could not tell the truth ; 
how could he confess that from him, a 
young, strong fellow, a woman had taken 
the two thousand thalers, on the open 
street ? He could not do that, if it should 
cost him his life. 

“ Jochen, you are lying. If you will not 
tell me the truth, tell it to our old 
inspector.” 

No, to him, of all others, he could not 
tell the truth, for he had promised him he 
would not lie any more, and he had ad- 
monished him so earnestly, — he could not 
tell him. 

“ Marik, get me my chisel, and a couple 
of thalers in money.” 

“ Jochen, what are you going to do ? ” 

“ I will go away.” 

“ Jochen, Jochen 1 and leave me here, 
with the poor little ones ? ” 

“ Marik, I must go ; it will never go 
well with me here again.” 

“Jochen, tell the truth, and it will be 
all right.” 

“ If you don’t bring me the chisel and 
the money, I will take my life, this very 
night ! ” 

And here, also, there was much begging 
and pleading and talking, as there was up- 
stairs in the warm room, but the truth 
would not come out, no more here than 
there, it was kept back, here as there, by 
the shame of confessing inconsiderate and 
disreputable actions, and here, also, the 
wife left her husband with a heavy 
heart. 

The first thing next morning came the 
news, setting all Pumpelhagen in an up- 
roar, that the day-laborer, Regel, had 
broken out, and run away. The justice 
made preparations to have him arrested 


again, and rode off', homewards, with the 
Herr Notary. Axel was in a rage, — no 
one knew why ; but it was with himself, 
and because he could shove the blame up- 
on nobody else, for he himself had given 
orders that the man should be locked up 
in the cellar. 

After breakfast came Pomuchelskopp, 
to inquire about the matter, of which he 
had heard, as he said. Franz greeted him 
coldly, but so much the warmer was 
Axel’s reception. He knew well how to 
talk of the matter, the laws were too easy 
towards these low fellows, and the burgo- 
meister at Rahnstadt was much too good 
to the rascals; he told thief-stories, out 
of his own experience and that of his 
acquaintances, and finally said that he 
believed, like Ilabermann, that the fel- 
low had not done it. “ That is to say,” 
he added, “ not of his own accord, he can 
merely have been the tool of another, 
for no day-laborer would venture to steal 
two thousand thalers which had been en- 
trusted to him ; there must be a cleverer 
rogue in the background. And there- 
fore,” said he, “I advise you, Herr von 
Rainbow, to have an eye on the ^people 
who may have assisted his flight, and es- 
pecially on those who take his part.” 

Axel’s feelings, through the loss and 
through his anger, were like freshly pre- 
pared soil, and whatever seed fell there- 
in, even were it darnel and cockles, must 
sprout up finely. He walked up and down 
the room ; yes, Pomuchelskopp was right, 
he was a practical old fellow, who knew 
the world, that is to say, the agricultural 
world; but who could have been con- 
cerned with Regel in such a business ? 
He knew of no one. Who had taken 
Regel’s part? That was Habermann, he 
had said expressly, from the first, that he 
must have lost the money. But he had 
been so angry with the fellow, at the first 
news. Well, that might all have been 
acting ! And why had he been so anxious 
to have the laborer close by his room, in 
the chamber? Perhaps that he might 
have intercourse with him, perhaps that 
he might be better able to help him off. 

For an intelligent man, these were 
very stupid thoughts, but the devil is a 
cunning fellow, he does not seek out the 
prudent and strong, when he wishes to 
sow darnel and cockles in the fresh furrow, 
he takes the foolish and weak. 

“ What is the Herr Inspector doing with 
that woman ? ” asked Pomuchelskopp, who 
had stepped to the window. 

“ That is Regelsch,” said Franz, who 
stood near him. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


“ Yes,” said Axel, hastily, “ what has he 
to do with her ? I must find out.” 

“ That is very singular,” said Pomuchels- 
kopp. 

Habermann stood in the yard, with the 
laborer’s wife, apparently persuading her 
to something; she resisted, but finally 
yielded, and came with him towards the 
manor house. They entered the room. 

“ Herr von Rainbow,” said Habermann, 
“ the woman has confessed to me that she 
helped her husband away in the night.” 

“ Yes, Herr,” said the woman, tremb- 
ling all over, “ I did it, I am guilty ; but 
I could not do otherwise, he would have 
taken his life else,” and the tears started 
from her eyes, and she put her apron to 
her face. 

“ A pretty story I ” said Axel, coldly, 
— and he was usually so kindhearted — 
“ a pretty story ! This seems to be a reg- 
ular conspiracy ! ” 

Franz went up to the woman, made her 
sit down, and inquired, “ Regelsch, didn’t 
he confess to you what he had done with 
the money ? ” 

“ No, young Herr, he told me nothing, 
and what he said was false ; I know that ; 
but he hasn’t taken it.” 

“ How came you,” said Axel roughly to 
Habermann, “to be questioning this wo- 
man without my orders ? ” 

Habermann was startled at this ques- 
tion, and still more at the tone in which it 
was expressed; “I believed,” said he, 
quietly, “ that it would be well to find out 
how and when the prisoner got away, in 
order to obtain some hint of his present 
place of concealment.” 

“ Or perhaps to give some ! ” exclaimed 
Axel, and turned quickly about, as if he 
had done something which might cost him 
dear. The result was not quite so bad as 
he had reason to fear, for Habermann had 
not understood the meaning of his words, 
he heard merely the tone, but that was 
enough to lead him to say, with serious 
emphasis, “ What you mean by your 
words, I do not know, and it is a matter 
of indifference to me ; but the manner and 
tone in which you have spoken to me, last 
evening and this morning, are what I will 
not take from you. Yesterday I was si- 
lent, out of consideration for the gracious 
lady, but in the present company ” — > here 
he glanced at Pomuchelskopp — “I need 
not exercise such consideration,” and 
with that he left the room. The laborer’s 
wife followed him. 

Axel was going after him ; Franz 
stepped in his way : “ What are you 
going to do, Axel? Recollect yourself! 


153 

You are in fault, you have bitterly 
wronged the old man, as he evidently 
thinks.” 

“ That was a bold move,” said ‘ Po- 
muchelskopp, as if he were talking to him- 
self, “ that was a bold move, for an inspect- 
or,” but he must be going home, he said, 
and called, out of the window, for his 
horse. He had got things started finely. 

The horse was brought, Axel accom- 
panied his Herr Neighbor out of the door ; 
Franz remained in the room. “ Certainly 
a very good man, your Herr Cousin,” said 
Pomuchelskopp, “but he does not know 
the world yet, does not know yet what is 
proper for the master, and what for the 
servant.” 

With that, he rode off. 

Axel came back into the parlor, arid 
threw the cap, which he wore because the 
morning was cold, into the sofa corner, 
exclaiming, “ Infamous cheats ! The devil 
take the whole concern, if one can no 
longer rely upon anybody ! ” 

“ Axel,” said Franz, going up to him 
kindly,” you do your people great wrong, 
you do yourself wrong, dear brother, if 
you cherish such an unjust hatred in your 
benevolent heart.” 

“ Unjust ? What ? Two thousand tha- 
lers have been stolen ” 

“They are lost, Axel, through the in- 
considerate fault of a day-laborer.” 

“ Oh, what, lost ! ” exclaimed Axel, turn- 
ing away, “ you come with the same story 
as my Herr Inspector ! ” 

“Axel, all intelligent people are of this 
opinion, the burgomeister himself said — ” 

“ Don’t talk to me of that old nightcap ! 
I should have conducted the examination 
myself, then we should have come to quite 
a different conclusion, or if I had only got 
hold of the woman first, this morning, her 
story would have been quite another 
thing ; but so ? Oh, it is all a contrived 
plot ! ” 

“Listen to me, Axel, you have made 
that allusion once before,” cried Franz 
sharply and decidedly ; “ fortunately, it 
was not understood ; now you make it for 
the second time, and I, for my part, must 
understand.” 

“ Well, then you may understand that 
it is not made without sufficient grounds.” 

“ Can you make such a declaration to 
your own conscience ? Would you, in your 
unjust excitement and with wanton cruelty, 
cast such a stain upon sixty years of hon- 
orable life ? ” 

This touched Axel, and cooled him off a 
little, and he said peevishly, for his unnat- 
ural excitement was wearing off, “ I have 


154 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


not said that he has done it ; I only said he 
might have done it.” 

“ The suspicion,” said Franz coldly, “is 
as bad as the other , as bad for yourself 
as for the old man. R member, Axel,” 
said he, impressively, laying his hand on 
his cousin’s shoulder, “how long the old 
man has been, to your father and yourself, 
a faithful, upright steward ! To me,” he 
added, in a lower tone, “ he was more, he 
has been my friend and teacher.” 

Axel walked up and down, he felt that 
he was wrong, — at least, for the moment, 
— but to confess, freely and fully, that he 
had endeavoured to shove off the blame 
of his own foolishness and untruthfulness 
upon another was too much, he had not the 
clear courage to do it. He began to 
chaffer and bargain with himself, and 
availed himself of the expedient which 
the weak and dishonest are always ready 
to employ, — he carried the war into the 
enemy's camp. In every age, up to the 
resent time, truth is yet sold, in a weak 
uman soul, for thirty pieces of silver. 

“ Oh, to you ! ” said he, “ he would like 
to be still more to you.” 

“What do you mean?” asked Franz, 
turning round on him sharply. 

“ Oh,” said Axel, “ nothing more ! I 
only mean you may call him ‘Papa,’ by 
and by.” 

There was an unworthiness in this 
speech, in the intention to offend the man 
who had been firm enough to tell him the 
truth. Franz flushed a deep red. His 
deepest, holiest secret was brought to 
light, and in this insulting manner ! The 
blood rushed to his face ; but he restrained 
himself, and said, shortly : 

“ That has nothing to do with the 
matter.” 

“ Why not ? ” said Axel. “ It at least ex- 
plains the warmth with which you defend 
your Herr Habermann.” 

“ The man needs no defence of mine, 
his whole life defends him.” 

“And his lovely daughter,” said Axel, 
striding up and down, in great triumph. 

A great passion rose in Franz’s soul, but 
he restrained himself, and asked, quietly, 
“ Do you know her ? ” 

“Yes — no — that is to say, I have seen 
her ; I have seen her at the parsonage, and 
she has often been here, with my wife, and 
my wife also has visited her. I know her 
merely by sight; a pretty girl, a very 
pretty girl, ’pon honor ! I was pleased with 
her, as a child, at my father’s funeral.” 

“ And when you learned, that she was 
dear to me, did you not seek a nearer ac- 
quaintance ? ” 


“No, Franz, no ! Why should I? I knew, 
of course, that nothing serious could come 
of such an attachment.” 

“ Then you knew more than I.” 

“ Oh, I know more still, I know how 
they set traps and snares for you, and were 
always contriving ways to catch you.” 

“ And from whom did you learn all 
this ? But why do I ask ? Such childish 
gossip could have been hatched in but one 
house, in the whole region. But since we 
have mentioned the matter, I will tell you 
frankly, that I certainly do intend to marry 
the girl, that is, if she does not refuse 
me.” 

“ She would better beware ! She would 
better beware ! ” exclaimed Axel, spring- 
ing about the room, in his anger. “ Will 
you really commit this folly? And will 
you give me this affront ? ” 

“ Axel, look to your words ! ” cried 
Franz, whose temper was getting the 
upper hand. “What business is it of 
yours ? ” 

“ What ? Does it not not concern me, 
as the oldest representative of our old 
family, if one of the younger members 
disgraces himself by a mesalliance .” 

Yet once more Franz restrained himself, 
and said : 

“ You yourself married from pure incli- 
nation, and without regard for subordinate 
matters. 

“ That is quite another thing,” said Axel, 
with authority, believing now that he had 
the advantage. “My wife’s family is as 
good as mine, she is the daughter of an 
old house ; your beloved is the daughter 
of my inspector, adopted out of pity and 
kindness, by the Pastor’s family.” 

“For shame!” cried Franz, passionate- 
ly, “ to make an innocent child suffer for 
a great misfortune ! ” 

“ It is all the same to me,” roared Axel, 
“I will not call my inspector’s daughter 
cousin ; the girl shall never cross my 
threshold ! ” 

All the blood which had rushed through 
Franz’s veins and flushed his face, a mo- 
ment before, struck to his heart ; he stood 
pale before his cousin, and said in a voice, 
which trembled with intense excitement : 

“ You have said it. You have spoken 
the word which divides us. Louise shall 
never cross your threshold, neither will 
I.” 

He turned to go ; at the door he was 
met by Frida, who had heard the quarrel 
in the next room : “ Franz, Franz, what is 
the matter ? ” 

“ Farewell, Frida,” said he, hastily, and 
went out, towards the farm-house. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 155 


“ Axel,” cried Frida, running up to her 
husband, “ what have you done ? What 
have you done V ” 

“ I have showed a young man,” said 
Axel, striding up and down the room, as 
if he had fought a great battle with the 
world-out-of-joint, and made everything 
right again, “I have showed a young fel- 
low, who wanted to make a fool of himself 
over a pretty face, his true standpoint.” 

“Have you dared to do that?” said 
Frida, sinking, pale, into a chair, and gaz- 
ing with her great, clear eyes at her hus- 
band’s triumphal march through the room, 
“have you dared to thrust your petty 
pride of birth between the pure emotions 
of two noble hearts ? ” 

“ Frida,” said Axel, and he knew very 
well that he had done wrong, and his con- 
science smote him, but he could not con- 
fess it, “ I believe I have done my duty.” 

Any one may notice, if he will, that the 
people who never in their lives do their 
duty always make the most use of the 
word. 

“ Ah ! ” cried Frida, springing up, “ you 
have deeply wounded an upright, honest 
heart ! Axel,” she begged, laying her 
folded hands on his shoulder, “ Franz has 
gone into the farm-house, follow him, and 
repair the injury you have donel Bring 
him back to us again ! ” 

“ Apologize to him, in the presence of 
my inspector ? No, rather not at all ! Oh, 
it is charming ! ” and he worked himself 
again into a passion, “my two thousand 
thalers are stolen, my inspector finds fault 
with me, my Herr Cousin stands by his 


dear father-in-law, and now my own wife 
joins herself to the company 1 ” 

Frida looked at him, loosened her hands, 
and, throwing a shawl over her shoulders, 
said, “ If you will not go, I will,” and went 
out, hearing him call after her, “ Yes, go ! 
go ! But the old sneak shall clear out ! ” 

As she crossed the court, they were 
bringing round Franz’s carriage, and as 
she entered the inspector’s room Haber- 
mann had just been saying to the young 
man, “ Herr von Rambow, you will forget 
it. You have spenb your life hitherto, in 
our small circle ; if you travel, — as I 
should think advisable, — then you will 
have other thoughts. But, dear Franz,” 
said the old man, so trustingly, in his recol- 
lection of earlier times, “ you will not dis- 
turb the heart of my child ? ” 

“ No, Habermann,” said Franz, just as 
the young Frau entered the room. 

“ Good heavens ! ” cried Habermann, 
“I have forgotten something. You will 
excuse me, gracious lady I ” and he left 
the room. 

“ Always considerate, always discreet 1 ” 
said Frida. 

“Yes, that he is,” said Franz, looking 
after the old man. The carriage drove 
up, but it wa3 kept waiting ; the two had 
much to say to each other, and, when at 
last Franz got into the carriage, Frida’s 
eyes were red, and Franz also dashed 
away a tear. 

“ Greet the good old man for me,” said 
he, “ and greet Axel, also,” he added, in a 
lower tone, as he pressed her hand. 

The carriage drove off. 


156 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER XXYI. 

Young Jochen sat in his chimney-cor- 
ner smoking. Young Bauschan lay under 
his chair, but with his head far enough 
out to look at young Jochen. Young 
Jochen looked at him, but said nothing, 
and Bauschan said nothing. 

It was very quiet and peaceful, in the 
Rexow house, on this December after- 
noon ; there was only one thing which 
rattled and creaked, that was Frau Niiss- 
ler’s arm-chair, in which she sat by the 
window ; and every time that she took up 
a stitch, it made a note of it ; for which it 
should not be blamed, for she squeezed it 
without mercy, since she had become, with 
time, what one calls a stout woman. But, 
to-day, the old chair creaked more than 
usual, for Frau Nussler had been knitting, 
in deep thought, and her thoughts became 
more and more earnest, and oppressed her 
soul, and the chair and its creaking be- 
came louder and louder. “ Dear heart ! ” 
said she, laying her knitting in her lap, 
“ why must it be so, in this world, that 
one’s misfortune should be another’s hap- 
piness ! Jochen, do you know what I have 
just thought of? ” 

“No,” said young Jochen, and looked 
at Bauschan ; Bauschan didn’t know, 
either. 

“Jochen, what would you think, if Gott- 
lieb should offer himself for the Gurlitz 
parish ? Gottlieb is but a farthing candle, 
compared with our old Herr Pastor ; but 
somebody must get the parish, why not he 
as well as another ? ” 

Jochen said nothing. 

“ If Pomuchelskopp is against him, and 
our people and the Warnitzers in his favor, 
it will depend merely on the Pumpelhagen 
Herr. What do you say, Jochen ? ” 

“Yes,” said Jochen, “it is all as true as 
leather ; ” and, because the matter inter- 
ested him uncommonly, he spoke further, 
and said, “ what shall we do about it ? ” 

“Ah,” said Frau Nussler, “there is no 
use in talking to you. I wish Brasig were 
only here, he could give us advice,” and 
she resumed her knitting. 

“ Well,” she exclaimed, half an hour 
later, “ speak of the wolf, and he is not far 
off; there comes Brasig, driving up the 
yard. And who has he with him? Ru- 
dolph, — now just think of it, Rudolph ! 
Why should Rudolph come to-day? Jo- 
chen, now do me a single favor, — the old 
fellow is doing so nicely, — don’t go and 
distress him with your foolish chatter ! ” 
With that she ran to the door, to receive 
her guests. 


But she had delayed too long over her 
preface, for, as she came out, Mining lay in 
Rudolph’s arms. 

“Preserve us 1 ” cried Frau Nussler, 
“ softly, Mining ! ” and she led Rudolph 
into the living-room. 

“ Well,” said Jochen, “ Brasig, sit down 
a little ! Rudolph, sit down, too ! ” 

But that was not so easily done. Ru- 
dolph had too much to arrange with Min- 
ing and Lining, to be in haste to sit down, 
and Brasig’s head was going round like 
clock-work, and he trotted up and down 
the room, as if his legs were the pendu- 
lums, to keep the machinery running. 

“ Young Jochen,” said he, “ have you 
heard the news? They haven’t caught 
him.” 

“ Whom,” asked Jochen. 

“Good gracious, Jochen,” said Frau 
Nussler, “ let Brasig tell. You are always 
interrupting people so ; let him speak ! 
Brasig, whom haven’t they caught ? ” 

“ Regel,” said Brasig ; “ they tracked 
him to Wismar, but there they found 
themselves too late, since he had gone off 
a week before, on a Swedish oakum ship, 
and is up in the Baltic sea.” 

“ What a trouble this is for my brother 
Karl I ” sighed Frau Nussler. 

“Frau Nussler, you are right there; 
Karl is hardly to be recognized, for he has 
completely insulated himself, and is sur- 
rounded with gloomy thoughts. The 
business troubles him dreadfully, not on 
his own account, — no ! only on his young 
Herr’s account, for you shall see, the 
young man must, sooner or later, declare 
himself insolvent.” 

“ That would kill Karl ! ” cried Frau 
Nussler. 

“How can you help it?” said Brasig. 

“ The young nobleman is ruining himself 
with his eyes open ; he is beginning now 
the higher style of horse-breeding. For, 
as I learned from old Prebberow, he has 
become intimate with Lichtwark, and has 
bought an old thorough-bred horse, which 
has got spavin, and swelled sinews, and in 
short, the whole band in his legs, and he 
has bought a thorough-bred mare, and he 
is going to buy Triddelsitz’s old, deaf gran- 
ny, and establish a complete horse-hospi- 
tal. He has got the little mule too, and 
I am glad of that, for it is the only sensible 
creature in the whole company.” 

“ Well, never mind him, Brasig, he must 
run his risk,” said Frau Nussler; “but 
Jochen and I were just talking about the 
young Ilerr — Mining, you can take Ru- 
dolph out a little while ! And Lining, you 
can go with them ! ” — and when they 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


157 


were gone she said, “Brasig, it is about 
the Gurlitz living. If Gottlieb could only- 
get it ! ” 

“ Frau Niissler,” said Brasig, bringing his 



“ what you have said is an idea, and no- 
body in the world is so quick at conceiv- 
ing ideas as the women folks. Where did 
you get this idea ? ” 

“Entirely by myself,” said Frau Niiss- 
ler, “for Jochen does not agree with 
me, as he used to ; he is always contra- 
dicting.” 

“Jochen, keep perfectly quiet I” said 
Brasig. “ You are wrong, for this opinion 
of your dear wife is a reasonable one. 
I will answer for Warnitz ; the people will 
choose my candidate, even if the gracious 
count and countess should oppose ; you for 
Rexow, young Jochen ; Pomuchelskopp 
won’t do it, out of spite ; but no matter, it 
depends on Pumpelhagen. Who shall talk 
to the young nobleman about it ? Haber- 
mann ? He stands on his apropos with 
him, just at present. I? Worse, if any- 
thing, for he has insulted me. Young 
Jochen himself? I wouldn’t trust young 
Jochen, he has got into the way of talking 
too much lately. Gottlieb ? A good 
| fellow, but a sheep’s-head. Then who? 

| Rudolph ! An infernal scoundrel, as Ilil- 
I gendorf has just written me. Rudolph 
i must go, and you, Frau Niissler, must go 
| with him, on account of the family connec- 
I tion, that the young fellow may legumini- 
| ren.” 

“Good heavens!” cried Frau Niissler, 
j “ shall I go to see the young Herr ! ” 

“ No,” said Zachary Brasig, “ you go to 
| the young Frau, and Rudolph to the young 
Herr. Where is Rudolph ? Rudolph must 
[ come in immediately.” 

Rudolph was quite ready to undertake 
| the errand for his cousin Gottlieb, and it 
| was settled that, the next day, he should 
drive with his aunt to Pumpelhagen. 

It so happened ; but when the deputa- 
I tion drove up to the manor house, Herr 
! von Rambow was not at home, he had 
; gone out riding ; so they were announced 
to the gracious lady, and met with a 
I very friendly reception. 

« Gracious lady,” said Frau Niissler, 
going up to the young Frau, in her true- 
hearted way, without many compliments, 
“ you will not take it unkindly, if I speak 
Platt-Deutsch ; I know a little High Ger- 
man ; but it is almost nothing, We are 
old-fashioned people, and I always say a 
bright tin plate pleases me better than a 
silver one which is tarnished. 


Frida herself took off the good Frau’s 
wrappings, and pressed her to sit down by 
her on the sofa ; she motioned Rudolph to 
a chair, and would have seated herself 
again, but she was held back by Frau 
Niissler, who said to her, quite confi- 
dentially : 

“ You see, gracious lady, this is a neph- 
ew of mine, who is going to be my son- 
in-law; he is a son of Kurz the mer- 
chant, in Rahnstadt, with whom you have 
traded.” • 

Rudolph bowed, as was his place, and 
the young Frau, with her bright ways, soon 
made an end of the introduction, and got 
Frau Niissler seated on the sofa. 

“Yes,” said the stout lady, “he has 
studied too, but he didn’t go very far ; but 
now that he has become a farmer, he is 
doing finely, as Hilgendorf has written to 
Brasig.” 

That was all very fine for Rudolph ; but 
it annoyed him to be talked about, so he 
interrupted Frau Niissler. 

“ But, dear aunt, you don’t want to tell 
about me, you want to tell about Gottlieb.” 

“ Yes, gracious lady, that is properly my 
errand ; you see, I have still another, who 
is also to be my son-in-law, also a nephew, 
Rector Baldrian’s son, in Rahnstadt, who 
has studied regularly, and learned every- 
thing that he ought, and can be a pastor 
any day. Now our good old Herr Pastor 
has gone to heaven, — ah gracious lady, 
what a man he was ! — and you cannot 
blame me, if I have the wish to keep my 
Lining in the neighbourhood, and that 
Gottlieb should get the parish.” 

“ No, dear Frau Niissler,” said Frida, “ I 
do not blame you, and if it depended on 
me, your future son-in-law, should, by all 
means, have the presentation, on our side ; 
I have heard so much good of you and 
your daughters.” 

“ Have you really ? ” asked Frau Niiss- 
ler, warmed to the heart. “ Yes, they are 
dear, good little girls ! ” she exclaimed. 

At this moment, footsteps were heard 
outside, and Herr von Rambow, who had 
returned from his ride, came in. The 
young wife undertook the introductions, 
and Axel looked uncommonly grave, at 
the names. Rudolph was not disconcerted, 
however ; he had a fine trump to play, 
which he did not mean to stake for noth- 
ing ; he went up to the Herr, and said : 

“ Herr von Rambow, may I be allowed 
a few words with you in private ? ” 

Axel went with him into the next room. 

“Herr von Rambow,” said Rudolph, 
“ the week before last, you lost two thous- 
and thalers in gold, — as you have said, all 


158 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


in Danish double louis-d’ors; the day-la- 
borer made his escape, and it seems that 
he will not be easily retaken; but they 
are on the track of the money.” 

“ What ? ” cried Axel. “ How do you 
know that ? ” 

“ Since yesterday afternoon, I know 
that the trial-justice, the burgomeister, at 
Rahnstadt, has obtained a very clear indi- 
cation in this direction. I was with my 
father, in his shop, when a woman came in, 
a weaver’s wife, who is suing for a divorce 
from her husband, and wanted change for 
a Danish double louis-d’or. I know the 
woman, she is miserably poor, and the 
burgomeister knows also, from the divorce 
suit, that she has nothing, nothing at all. 
My father and I gave information of this 
occurrence, and in the examination it came 
out that, besides the gold pieces alluded to, 
she had other money, of which she could 
give no account, and it also came out — 
which is the principal thing — that she 
had gone on the same road with the mes- 
senger, on the same morning.” 

“ How is it possible ! ” cried Axel ; 
“ then didn’t the fellow steal the money 
himself? ” 

“ It seems,” said Rudolph, “ as if it had 
been stolen from him. Our prudent old 
burgomeister has had the woman arrested, 
on other minor charges of theft, and has 
forbidden my father and me to mention 
the matter ; to yourself, on the contrary, 
when he heard that I was coming this way, 
he expressly allowed me to speak of it. 
Yon will certainly hear from him, by 
letter, very soon.” 

“ Ilerr Kurz,” said Axel, “ I am ex- 
tremely obliged to you, for riding over to 
give me this information,” and he gave the 
young man his fiand. Rudolph laughed a 
little, and said finally, “ If this had been 
all, I should have come alone, but you have 
noticed my aunt, she has something very 
much at heart.” 

“ If I can serve you in any way ” 

said Axel, courteously. 

“ Come, I will say it right out, a cousin 
of mine, a theological candidate, proposes 
himself, through my aunt, for the presen- 
tation to the Gurlitz living.” 

“ A cousin ? I thought you were a the- 
ologue yourself.” 

“ Was ! Herr von Rambow, was ! ”• 
cried Rudolph briskly. “ I believe I am 
not sufficiently highly organized, as they 
call it now-a-days, and I preferred to be- 
come a farmer, and I can tell you,” he 
went on, looking joyously in the young 
Herr’s eyes, “ since then, I have been a 
very happy man.” 


It must have been a terribly churlish 
fellow who would not have warmed at 
contact with such fresh life, and Axel was 
still, on the whole, a good apple, bruised 
a little here and there, on the outside, and 
a little soiled, but inside, yet sound at the 
core ; he exclaimed heartily : 

“ That is right ? That is right ! That 
has been my experience. The life of a 
Mecklenburg farmer shall yet be worth 
one’s while. Where are you staying, Herr 
Kurz ? ” 

“ With the greatest farmer of the age, 
with Hilgendorf, at Little Tetzleben,” 
laughed Rudolph. 

“ A very capable man ! ” said Axel, 
“ thorough-bred too I that is to say, his 
horses.” 

And now they began to talk of Gray 
Momus, and Herodotus, and Black Over- 
shire, and Hilgendorf received his share of 
attention, and when Rudolph finally stood 
up, and offered his hand to Herr von Ram- 
bow, it was very kindly pressed, and the 
Herr said : 

“ Rely upon it, no other than your 
cousin shall get the presentation from 
me.” 

As they came back into the parlor, 
Frau Niissler rose from the sofa, and said 
to Frida, “ He would give his life for you, 
and for the Herr,” and going up to the 
Herr, she said, “ isn’t it so ? you will do 
it, Herr von Rambow ? It will make me 
so h&ppy if I can keep my Lining in the 
neighborhood.” 

Axel was not disposed to like such a free, 
off-hand reception, nor was he — though of 
course without any reasonable ground — 
disposed to like the Niissler ways ; but the 
news that there was a possibility of re- 
covering his two thousand thalers, the 
“ thorough-bred ” talk with Rudolph, and 
the really impressive, simple, true-hearted 
manners of Frau Niissler, had their effect; 
he went up to his wife and said : 

“ Dear Frida, we have a prospect of re- 
covering our two thousand thalers.” 

“ The dear God grant it 1 ” said Frau 
Niissler. “ Rudolph, have you spoken to 
the gracious Herr ? ” 

“ Yes,” replied Axel for him, “ the 
business is settled, he shall have the pres- 
entation from me ; but — I should like to 
see him first.” 

“ That is nothing more than right and 
proper,” said Frau Niissler ; “ who would 
buy a cat in a bag ? And you shall see, 
if he is appointed, and preaches, you shall 
see that he can; but, dear heart! stupid? 
Well, everybody is stupid about some- 
thing ; I cannot promise for that.” 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


And so they rode off. Gottlieb would 
have the presentation. 

“ So,” said Brasig, “ the business is well 
started; now Gottlieb has only his last 
execution at Pomuchelskopp’s and then 
the election ! But he must strike while 
the iron is hot, and since neither God nor 
man can help him with Zamel Pomuchels- 
kopp, he must run his risk, and that 
quickly.” 

The opinion was reasonable, and Gott- 
lieb got a letter containing a positive com- 
mand that he should report himself at 
Rexow, next day, there to receive fur- 
ther instructions. 

He arrived, and, when Brasig had 
briefly explained the business, he was 
ready to undertake the dangerous er- 
rand. Krischan the coachman drove the 
Phantom up to the door, Lining brought a 
foot-sack and cloak and shawls, and tucked 
her future husband warmly in. 

“That is right,” said Brasig; “wrap 
him up, Lining, so that he may not freeze, 
and that the catarrh may not run away 
with his fine voice ; it is showery weather 
to-day.” 

Suddenly Jochen Nussler rose up from 
his chimney-corner, and said, “ Mining, my 
cloak ! ” 

“ Well, this is a fine time of day 1 ” said 
Brasig. 

“Jochen, what do you want?” asked 
Frau Nussler. 

“Mother,” said young Jochen, “you 
went with Rudolph, I will go with Gott- 
lieb. I will do my share of the business,” 
and he made such a decided motion of the 
head, and looked at them all with so much 
expression, that Brasig cried out, “May 
you keep the nose on your face ! I never 
saw the like, in all my life.” 

“ Ah, Briisig,” said Frau Nussler, “ he is 
always like that lately ; but let him go, 
there is no use talking.” 

And Jochen rode off with him. Lining, 
however, went up to her little chamber, 
and prayed as earnestly for Gottlieb, on 
his difficult errand, as if he were really 
going to execution. 

Jochen and Gottlieb rode on through 
the deep mud, in silence ; neither spoke a 
word, for each had his own thoughts, and 
the only remark made was when Krischan 
looked round over his shoulder, and said, 
“ Herr, if one should drive here in the 
dark, and slip, he might turn over very 
conveniently.” So, about four o’clock in 
the afternoon, they arrived at Pomuchels- 
kopp’s. 

Pomuchelskopp lay like a lump of mis- 
fortune on his sofa, rubbing his eyes, for 


159 

Gustaving had startled him out of his 
afternoon sleep, when he came in for the 
key of the granary, for it was Saturday, 
and he wanted to give out the grain. 

“ Gustaving,” he cried spitefully, “ you 
will be an awkward fellow all your days, 
you are a regular dunce I Blockhead 1 I 
will put you on a pole, for all the people 
to see what a dunce you are ! ” 

“ Yes, father ” 

“ Eh, what ? yes, father ! How often 
have I told you not to make such a clatter- 
ing with the keys, when your father is try- 
ing to rest ! What carriage is that, driv- 
ing up the yard ? ” 

“ Good gracious ! ” cried Gustaving, 
“ that is our neighbor Nussler, and another 
Herr.” 

“ Blockhead ! ” exclaimed Pomuchels- 
kopp. “ How often have I told you, you 
should not call everybody neighbor ! The 
day-laborer, Brinkmann, will be my neigh- 
bor next, because he lives near my gar- 
den ; I will not be neighbor to everybody,” 
and with that he went to the door, to see 
what was going to happen. 

Jochen and Gottlieb, meanwhile, had 
got down from the carriage, and Jochen 
came up to him : “ Good day, neighbor ! ” 
Pomuchelskopp made him a very ceremo- 
nious bow, such as he had learned to 
make at the Landtag, and showed them 
into the parlor. It was very still in the 
room, if one excepts the little creaking of 
the chairs; Jochen thought Gottlieb ought 
to speak, Gottlieb thought Jochen ought 
to speak, and Pomuchelskopp thought he 
ought not to speak, lest he should commit 
himself to something. Finally, however, 
Gottlieb began : 

“ Herr Pomuchelskopp, the good, brave 
Pastor Behrens has gone to God, and if it 
seems hard, and almost unchristian, that I 
should offer myself, so soon after his death, 
as a candidate for the vacant parish, yet I 
do not believe that I offend against the 
common feelings of humanity, or the duty 
of a true Christian ; because I am conscious 
that I take this step only to satisfy the 
wishes of my own parents, as well as 
those of my future father and mother-in- 
law.” 

That was a fine speech for Gottlieb, and 
he was right, in every respect ; but Pomu- 
chelskopp had the right of it, also, when 
he made no other reply than to say to 
Gottlieb, all that might be, but he wished 
to know with whom he had the honor of 
speaking. Jochen motioned with his head 
to Gottlieb that he should tell him frank- 
ly, and Gottlieb said that he was the son 
of Rector Baldrian, and a candidate. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


160 

Joclien lay back comfortably in bis chair, 
after this announcement, as if the business 
were settled, and he could smoke his pipe 
in peace. But since Muchel had offered 
him no pipe, he had to content himself 
with going through the motions, with his 
mouth, puffing away like a Bohemian 
carp, when it comes up for air. 

“ Herr Candidate,” said Pomuchelskopp, 
“there have been several of your sort, 
already, to see me about this business,” — 
this was a lie, but he knew no other way 
of managing a parish business, than if he 
were selling a lot of fat swine to the 
butcher, — “ but I have let them all go, 
because the matter with me turns upon 
one point.” 

“ And that was ? ” asked Gottlieb. “ My 
examina ” 

“ That is nothing to me,” said the Herr 
Proprietor, “ I mean the Pastor’s acre. 
If you will consent to rent the field to me, 

— of course for a good, a very good price, 

— then you shall have my vote, otherwise 
not.” 

“I think I have heard,” said Gottlieb, 
“ that the field is rented to the Herr von 
Rainbow, and I should not like ” 

“ You may set your mind at rest on that 
point, Herr von Rambow will not rent the 
field again,” and Pomuchelskopp looked 
at Gottlieb in an overbearing way, as if 
he had sold his fat swine at the highest 
rice. Jochen said nothing, but stopped 
is puffing for a moment, and looked at his 
candidate son-in-law, as if to ask, “ What 
do you say now ? ” 

Gottlieb was beyond his depth, for he 
was very ignorant of worldly affairs, but 
he reflected, and his honorable nature was 
strongly opposed to entering upon his 
clerical office by means of such a bargain ; 
he said, therefore, frankly : 

“I cannot and will not give such a 
promise ; I do not wish to procure the 
living by such means. It will be time 
enough to settle that business when I am 
in the living.” 

“ So ? ” asked the Herr Proprietor, grin- 
ning at Gottlieb and Jochen, “ then, let me 
tell you, the fox is too wise for you ; what 
comes after, the wolf seizes, and if Ilerr 
von Rambow should not change his mind 
about the field, you can rent it to your 
Herr father-in-law. Isn’t it so, to your 
Herr father-in-law ? ” 

That was an infamous speech of Pomu- 
chelskopp’s. Jochen rent the field! Jochen, 
who from morning to night bore such a 
heavy burden, should take this also on his 
shoulders ! He sprang quickly to his feet, 
and said, “ Herr Neighbor, if a man do 


what he can do, what can he do more ; 
and what can I do about it ? If the Pum- 
pelhagen, Herr will not have the field, 
neither will I, I have enough to do.” 

“Herr Niissler,” said Pomuchelskopp, 
craftily, “ will you give me that in writing, 
that you will not rent the field ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Jochen readily, and he sat 
down again comfortably in his chair, and 
smoked on. Pomuchelskopp walked up 
and down the room, and calculated : Herr 
von Rambow gave up the lease, Jochen 
would not take it, they were the only ones 
who could use it, the field was too small to 
rent as a farm by itself, and he, as the 
proprietor, need not allow it ; it came to 
this, whether Gottlieb could farm it him- 
self, and Pomuchelskopp examined him 
with reference to that question, looking at 
him sideways, as he walked back and 
forth. 

There are all sorts of men in the world, 
and every one has his peculiar talents, and 
most people have a good deal of one kind 
of talent, and other kinds in much smaller 
proportions ; in Gottlieb’s case, however, 
nature seemed to have made a little mis- 
take, she sent him into the world, at least 
to all appearance, without the slightest 
trace of agricultural talent. Briisig had 
done his utmost to educate Gottlieb a lit- 
tle in these matters, but all in vain ; what 
isn’t in a man cannot be brought out of 
him. Gottlieb could not tell the differ- 
ence»between oats and barley, he did not 
know which was ox and which was bull, 
and Brasig finally gave him up in despair, 
sighing, “ Good heavens, how will the poor 
fellow ever get through the world I ” 

Pomuchelskopp, the practical old fellow, 
detected this failing of Gottlieb’s, and was 
much pleased. “ He knows nothing what- 
ever of farming,” said he to himself, “ that 
is my man. But I mustn’t let him know 
it!” 

“ Herr Candidate,” said he aloud, “ I am 
pleased with you, you are a very sensible 
man, and a man of morality — you will 
not comply with my request — good! 
neither will I promise to grant yours. 
But if Herr Niissler will give me a written 
statement that he will not rent the Pas- 
tor’s acre, we need talk no further about 
the business ; for, as I said, I am pleased 
with you.” 

So then Jochen signed his name, and 
the two old dunces rode off, very well sat- 
isfied with the transaction. They had 
got nothing, nothing at all, but a par- 
tial promise from the Herr Proprietor, and 
for that Jochen had been obliged to give 
his signature ; but they were quite con- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


161 


tented. Jochen was strongly of the opin- 
ion, and remained so till his death, that he 
had obtained the parish for his son-in-law 
by his signature. 

Jochen and Gottlieb would have been 
glad to stop a little while at the parson- 
age ; but Krischan the coachman opposed 
it violently, saying it would never do, it 
was pitch dark already ; so the old Phan- 
tom labored along, in the night and the 
mist, through the deep country roads. To 
night and mist and a phantom, sleep is 
appropriate, and whoever finds this four- 
leaved clover, has the prospect of all sorts 
of good fortune. Sleep was not long ab- 
sent. Jochen slept before they were fairly 
out of Gurlitz, and if it had been daylight, 
one could have seen, from the way Kri- 
schan dragged his whip, that he was begin- 
ning to doze, and though Gottlieb did not 
sleep he was farther off, in his thoughts, 
than the others ; for he was dreaming of 
his Lining, and his parish, and his election 
sermon, and his entrance sermon. And 
when they came to the place where Kri- 
schan had made his intelligent remark, as 
they were going, and as the influences of 
sleep and darkness combined with its dan- 
gers, and Gottlieb had come in his dream 
to the last election vote, which gave the 
decision in his favor, the confounded old 
Phantom began to totter, the fore-wheel 
was up, high and dry, on the shore, and 
the hind-wheel, over which Gottlieb sat, 
fell into a deep hole; so, two steps fur- 
ther, and splash ! the whole company lay 
in the ditch. 

I see, from my window, a great many 
farmers of the Grand Duke’s lands get- 
ting down from their carriages, at my Frau 
Neighbor’s, the landlady Frau Lurenz, at 
the “ Prince’s Arms,” but I never in my 
life saw any one get down so quickly as 
Jochen ; he shot out, in a great curve, 
over Gottlieb, who was lying beneath him, 
directly, in the soft mud, and Krischan, 
old, honest, faithful soul, who could not 
think of deserting his master in such a 
crisis, also shot head-foremost from his 
seat, and lay at his master’s side. 

“Purr — Oh I Herr, just lie still!” 
cried the honest old fellow, “the horses 
will stand ! ” 

“ You blockhead ! ” cried Jochen. 

“ Praise God ! ” exclaimed Krischan, 
getting on his feet, “ I am all right. But 
Herr, just lie perfectly still, I will hold the 
horses.” 

« You blockhead ! ” said Jochen again, 
scrambling up, while Gottlieb splashed 
and waded about in the deep mire, “ how 
could you turn us over here ? ” 

11 


“ Yes, it is all as true as leather,” said 
Krischan, who, in his long years of ser- 
vice, had caught his master’s expressions, 
“ what could a body do, on such a road, in 
such pitch darkness ? ” 

Since Jochen’s words were taken out of 
his mouth in this way, he didn’t know 
what to say for himself, so he asked, “ Got- 
lieb, are your bones whole ? ” 

“ Yes, uncle,” said the candidate, “ and 
yours too ? ” 

“Yes,” said Jochen, “except my nose, 
but that seems clean gone out of my face.” 

The carriage had been righted by this 
time, and, as they got in again, Krischan 
turned half round and said : 

“ Herr, didn’t I tell you, this afternoon, 
this was the place to tip over ? ” 

“Blockhead!” cried Jochen, rubbing 
his nose, “ you were asleep.” 

. “ Asleep, Herr, asleep ? In such pitch 
darkness, it is all the same whether one 
sleeps or wakes ; but I said so before. I 
know the road by heart, and I said so.” 

And when he afterwards related the 
story to the other servants, he always said 
that he had prophesied it, but the Herr 
would not listen to him ; holding up 
Jochen in the light of a venturesome fel- 
low, who would risk his neck for nothing, 
against all opposition. 

They arrived at the house, and Gottlieb 
first got down from the carriage. Lining 
had been sitting all this time on thorns 
and nettles of impatience, and had listened, 
through the darkness, for every sound 
which could bring her certainty of happi- 
ness or misfortune. Now she heard some- 
thing — that must be — no, it was only 
the wind in the poplars ; but now ! yes, 
that is a carriage, it came nearer, it drove 
up, — she sprang up, she ran to the door, 
but must stop to press her hand against 
her throbbing heart, — how it beat, with 
hope and fear ! would Gottlieb bring hap- 
piness or misfortune ? She opened the 
door. 

“ Don’t touch me ! ” cried Gottlieb, but 
it was too late, Lining, although the oldest, 
was still very thoughtless, she threw her 
arms around Gottlieb, and pressed him to 
her warm heart ; but such a chill struck 
through her, that she felt as if she had 
taken a frog in her arms, she let him go, 
exclaiming, — 

“Good heavens! what has happened ? ” 

“ Overturned,” said Gottlieb, “ we were, 
by God’s gracious help, overturned; that 
is to say, Krischan took care of the over- 
turning, but God’s gracious help preserved 
us from serious injury.” 

“ How you look ! ” cried Br'asig, whc 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


162 

came out with a light, just as Jochen en- 
tered the door. 

“Yes, Brasig, 1 ’ said Jochen, “ it is all as, 
true as leather ; we were tipped over.” 

“ Eh, where Y ” said Brasig, “ how could 
a reasonable man, of your years, get tipped 
over, on his own roads Y You were asleep, 
Jochen 1 ” 

“Good gracious, Jochen!” cried Frau 
Nussler, “ how you look 1 ” and she turned 
him round, before the light, as if he 
were a piece of roast veal, on the spit, 
which she had just finely basted with 
gravy. “ Gracious, Jochen! and your 
nose ” 

“ And how does the clerical gentleman 
look Y ” inquired Brasig, holding the light 
to Gottlieb, in front and rear. “ Well ! ” 
he said, leaving him, “and now Lining! 
Why, Lining, you were not tipped over ! 
Frau Nussler, just look at her! She has, 
half the road from here to Gurlitz upon 
her clothes ! ” 

Lining blushed deeply, and Mining 
wiped off the mud from her, and Frau 
Nussler did the same for Jochen, 

“ Gracious, Jochen, how you have mud- 
died yourself! Now, just look at it, the 
nice new cloak 1 ” Jochen had purchased 
it for his wedding, some twenty years be- 
fore. “ Well, it can’t be helped ; I must 
rip it all out, and to-morrow the whole 
thing must be washed in the brook.” 

Orders were issued accordingly, and, af- 
ter a little while, the two travellers were 
seated, in dry clothes, at the table, in the 
living-room. Now, for the first time, Frau 
Nussler saw her Jochen’s nose, in a clear 
light. 

“Jochen,” said she, “how your nose 
looks!” 

“Yes, they said so,” replied Jochen. 

“Jochen,” said Brasig, “I must be an in- 
famous liar, if I ever said that your nose 
was particularly handsome ; but — may 
you keep the nose on your face ! — what a 
nose you have on your face 1 ” 

“ For shame, Brasig, how can you wish 
he should keep such a nose as that ? Pre- 
serve us 1 it grows bigger and bigger ! 
What can be done for it Y ” 

“ Frau Nussler,” said Brasig, “ he must 
go to the watercure.” 

“ What Y ” said Frau Nussler, “my Jo- 
chen go to the water-cure, because he has 
bumped his nose Y ” 

“ You don’t understand me,” said Brasig, 


“ he need not go, wholly and entirely, body 
and bones, to the water-cure ; he shall only 
send his nose there ; we must make him 
cold bandages. Or, Jochen, could you 
bleed a little from the noseY It would 
refresh you very much.” 

But jochen could not do that, so they 
prepared the cold bandages, and Jochen 
sat there, very stately and contented, with 
his nose wrapped up in wet linen, and, 
under his nose, his pipe of tobacco. 

“ But,” said Brasig, “ no mortal knows 
yet how you succeeded with Zamel Po- 
muchelskopp.” 

“Yes,” said Lining, “how was it, Gott- 
lieb Y ” So Gottlieb described their inter- 
view with the Herr Proprietor, and when 
he had finished, Jochen said, — 

“ Yes, it is all settled, I have signed my 
name.” 

“Jochen, what have you signed your 
name for Y ” asked Brasig, angrily. 

“ About the Pastor’s acre, that I will not 
rent it.” 

“ Then you have done something very 
foolish. Oh, the Jesuit! He wants the 
Pastor’s acre. Nightingale, I hear thee 
singing, from the little brook wilt drink. 
That was his great end and aim ! But — 
but” — he sprang up, and stalked about 
the room, “ I will spoil your game. Hear 
to the end, says Kotelmann. Zamel Po- 
muchelskopp, we will talk about this! 
What does the celebrated poet say, about 
David and Goliath Y I consider myself 
David, and him Goliath. ‘He took the 
sling into his hand, and smote him on the 
brow, headlong he fell.’ And how finely 
the same celebrated poet says, in his 
grand concluding words, ‘ So ever does 
the boaster fall, and when he thinks he 
firmly stands, then lies he in the ditch.’ 
And so it shall be with you, Zamel ! And, 
Frau Nussler, now I have got myself an- 
t gry, and can eat no supper, so I will say 
‘ Good night,’ for I have all sorts of things 
to think about.” 

He took his candle and departed, and 
after supper they all went early to bed, 
and Lining lay a long time, wakeful 
through care and anxiety, and listened to 
the wind in the trees, and the steps in the 
room beneath, which went back and forth, 
back and forth, in the same measure ; for 
there Uncle Brasig lodged, and — as he 
said next morning — was planning his 
campaign that night. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CIIAPTER XXVII. 

The year 1845 had arrived, and the 
world went on in its old course, and turned 
itself over, as usual. Day and night, and 
joy and sorrow, succeeded each other, just 
as they have done since time began, since 
the Lord appointed day and night, and 
placed man in the garden of Eden, and 
then expelled him from it. How many 
days and nights, and how much joy and 
sorrow I The day always dawns, and 
the night always comes ; there is no dif- 
ference. But is it even so with joy and 
sorrow ? Are they as impartially divided ? 
I think so ! The Lord’s hand stretches 
| over all, and from his hand falls happiness 
i and unhappiness, comfort and anxiety, 
i, upon the world, and every one has his 
share ; but men are perverse, they will 
t call their misfortunes happiness, and their 
happiness they take for misfortune ; they 
; push aside the cup of comfort, as if it were 
filled with gall, and they laugh away their 
anxieties. 

The people, whom I have written about 
in this book, were no better than others, 
they did just like the rest; but there are 
! two things which the Lord sends into the 
: world as joy and sorrow, and no gall can 
i embitter the one, and the other cannot be 
\ laughed away, — these are birth and death, 
beginning and ending. In my little world 
| also, there was beginning and ending, 
birth and death ; the fair, young Frau 
i sat in Pumpelhagen, and held a little 
I child, a little daughter, upon her lap, 
and the door of her heart stood wide 
open, for God’s clear sunlight to shine 
I in. She could not help it. The dark 
shadows which had been closing around 
her were no longer visible to her 
| eyes, — she must rejoice! and before the 
I parsonage at Gurlitz, lay a grave, and two 
i figures in black went silently back and 
i forth, and when spring came, they planted 
flowers upon it, and when the linden 
leaved out, before the house, and the 
lilacs blossomed, they sat together on the 
bench, and leaned against each other, as 
in the old time, when the Frau Pastorin 
had wrapped the little Louise in her 
: shawl. Now it was reversed, now Louise 
threw her shawl around the little Frau 
Pastorin. And so these two mourners 
sat together, and looked over at the 
churchyard, and when Habermann came, 
there were three, and they sat patiently 
in the shadows, and did not push aside the 
cup of comfort, and when they separated, 
the evening star was shining. 

The first, violent grief was gone from 


163 

the parsonage, but its marks were yet to 
be seen, beautiful marks, which the death- 
angel leaves upon human faces. He had 
kissed Louise upon her clear, high fore- 
head, and the kiss remained there, lighting 
her face like an earnest thought ; he hacl 
embraced the little, round Frau Pastorin, 
at his departure, and had taken away al- 
most all her own quick, eager vivacity, 
and had left in its place only loving 
thoughts of her Pastor. She lived en- 
tirely in these. All must remain as it had 
been in his life ; in his study, the arm- 
chair stood before the writing-table, the 
last sermon which he had written lay 
upon it, and the pen by its side, and the 
Bible of his childhood lay open, where she 
had turned the leaf at his death. Every 
morning she went first into this room; 
with her duster, and dusted and put 
everything in order, and stood long in 
thought, and looked at the door, as if he 
must come in, in his dressing-gown, and 
give her a kiss, and say, “ I thank you, 
dear Regina.” And at dinner, Louise put 
plates for three ; and her Pastor’s chair was 
always in its place, and it seemed to her 
as if he were sitting opposite, and talking 
in the most cheerful manner, and the re- 
mains of her own vivacity, which grief had 
left, reappeared at these times, for she did 
not push aside the cup of comfort. 

But how long could this last? The 
parish must be supplied with a new pas- 
tor, and then she must leave the house, 
she must leave the village, she must sever 
herself from the grave ; for there was 
no widow’s house, and Pomuchelskopp 
would not build one, for he had no oc- 
casion for one. 

For the last time she watched the 
blooming of the fruit-trees, which her 
Pastor had planted, for the last time she 
sat under the fragrant lilacs, where she 
had sat so happily with him, for the last 
time came the spring, and wound its 
wreath around the peaceful dwelling, for 
the last time came the summer, and 
strewed its golden blessing upon it : 
“ Louise, when the swallows fly, in the au- 
tumn, we must be flitting too,” she said, 
sadly, and she felt that it would be like 
another death. 

Habermann was her truest friend, and 
she gave herself wholly into his hands, 
what he did must be right. He thought 
and thought, but could think of no way to 
spare them the removal; but he would 
make it easier. Kurz the merchant had a 
roomy house, near his own, with a garden 
attached, which could be altered to re- 
semble the parsonage. And Louise must 


164 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


secretly measure the rooms at the parson- 
age, how large the parlor was, and how 
long the wall, and then drive with her 
father to Rahnstadt, and Schultz the car- 
penter was sent for, to draw a plan after 
Louise’s measurements. But he wouldn’t 
do it, for “ in the first place,” said he, “ I 
couldn’t draw a plan after a woman’s rib- 
bon and apron-string measuring, and, sec- 
ondly, it is not necessary ; plan-drawing is 
plan-drawing. I don’t believe in plan- 
drawing, I carry my plans in my head.” 
And Kurz said, if it were arranged differ- 
ently it would be much better, but Hab- 
ermann was firm ; it should be so, and if 
it could not be made so, the business was 
settled ; and Schultz the carpenter said 
there was no sort of difficulty, and, if it 
could only be managed, he would go over, 
and take the measurements himself. This 
was arranged, and he came before daylight 
while the Frau Pastorin was still sleeping, 
and measured the rooms, talking to him- 
self the while : “ Seven — seven — five 
and twenty, five and twenty, — Kurz — 
Habermann — Kurz — Habermann — awk- 
ward, awkward, — here there must be a 
projecting beam, — too great a strain, a 
bolt carried through, — so, so, — all right, 
— so, now out 1 Out ! ” — and he went out 
to his brown ponies, and drove softly 
away, with the finest building-plan in his 
head that ever a man could make. The 
building began immediately, and Haber- 
mann, who took a diligent supervision, 
was, on the whole, very well satisfied, only 
he did not quite understand the projecting 
beam, but he yielded, when he observed 
that Schultz himself felt strongly about 
the matter, and when he came to know 
that that architect never in his life put up 
a building without a “projecting beam.” 
Kurz also yielded his opposition, and so 
the removal was made as easy as it was 
possible for him to make it. 

At Pumpelhagen, as I have said, there 
was great joy: the clear eyes of Frida 
rested on her little daughter, and before 
these clear eyes, mother-love had woven a 
light, sweet veil, as if it would conceal from 
the mother the future of the little one, and 
leave her undisturbed to dream and create. 
And there was nothing in her way, one 
happy dream succeeded another ; and now 
again the clear sunlight beamed from her 
heart to Axel, when she held up to him 
her child. Axel’s heart was also full of 
joy, he came continually to inquire after 
mother and child ; but yet he had a slight 
feeling of disappointment ; he had wished 
for a son, an heir of his ancient name. It 
is a horrible thing that a little innocent 


girl, from the first moment she opens her 
eyes to the daylight, should have to con- 
tend with the unjust wishes and prejudices 
of other people, and suffer on account of 
them. If any one had said this to Axel, 
he would have been very angry, for he 
was really glad, in spite of his disappoint- 
ment ; he had seated himself directly, and 
announced the “ happy event ” to all his 
acquaintances, even his horse-acquaint- 
ances, and Pomuchelskopp ; three people 
only, he had intentionally omitted ; his 
cousin Franz, — “ that stupid boy,” — the 
Frau Pastorin at Gurlitz,— “ that match- 
maker,” — and Frau Nussler, — “that un- 
cultivated old woman.” And when he 
laid the letters on his wife’s bed, and she 
wondered that these three were forgotten, 
he said coldly, he had nothing to do with 
these people, if she wished to do it, she 
must do it on her own responsibility. 

She did it, accordingly; and after a 
few days came Louise, to offer congratula- 
tions, in the name of the Frau Pastorin, 
and Axel came into the room, and seeing 
the inspector’s daughter said, “Ah, Ma- 
demoiselle Habermann ! I beg you will 
excuse me,” and went quickly out of 
the room. And again after a few days, 
Frau Nussler came, with Krischan and the 
Phantom, driving into the yard, and Axel 
went off to the fields, when he saw them 
coming ; and when he returned, and 
learned from Daniel that Frau Nussler 
was still with the gracious lady, he ex- 
claimed impatiently : “ I do not compre- 
hend my wife, how she can take any 
pleasure in the society of such uneducated 
people 1 ” 

That was a very droll thing for him to 
say, for only a few weeks before, in a com- 
pany of horse-raisers, he had pronounced 
his friend, Herr von Brulow, of Brulows- 
hof, a very cultivated man of science, and 
when a young doctor, who was accidentally 
present, had remarked that his education 
and science were not carried to a very 
great extent, Axel rose up, and said, over 
his shoulder, to the mistaken young man, 
if one had, in any direction whatever, such 
an experience as the Herr von Brulow in 
raising thorough-bred horses, and especial- 
ly in the management of colts, he must be 
allowed, by the most envious person, the 
name of an educated and scientific man, 
even if he understood nothing else; for 
that business was one of the greatest im- 
portance. And yet in his eyes, this good 
woman was uneducated, though nobody 
in the world was better qualified to ad- 
vise his wife in the nursing and manage- 
ment of his own little infant. Pomuchels- 


SEED-TIME A 

kopp also had come, in his blue dress-coat, 
with gilt buttons, and the coach with the 
coat of arms, and the four brown horses, 
and had brought his congratulations. That 
was another thing, that was a genteel 
equipage ! And he was very cordially re- 
ceived by Axel, and must stay for lunch- 
eon, and afterwards Axel showed him his 
thorough-bred mares with their colts, and 
Pomuchelskopp was highly delighted, and 
laying his hand impressively on Axel's 
arm, and looking up in his eyes, he said, 
“ All very fine, Herr von Rambow, very 
fine for a beginning, but if you want to do 
something worth while, in horse-raising, 
you should have paddocks. The young 
animal should naturally be brought up in 
the open air. Freedom, freedom, Herr 
von Rainbow ! That is the first condition, 
if you mean to do anything of importance. 
And, you see, you have here the finest op- 
portunity, if you take off four paddocks 
here, behind the park, for your thorough- 
bred mares, and let the field, up as far as 
the hill, be sowed with grass and clover, 
instead of grain ; there is the brook down 
there, and you have the finest water. 
Something can be done. Of course,” he 
added, as Axel looked a little thought- 
ful, “ your inspector will not like the 
idea.” 

“ My inspector has nothing to say, if I 
command anything,” said Axel hotly. 

“ I know that,” said Pomuchelskopp, 
pacifying him, “he knows nothing about 
such matters.” 

“ But the meadow will be too small, if I 
take off this corner of the best soil,” said 
Axel. 

“ Yes,” said Pomuchelskopp, and shrug- 
ged his shoulders, “ you must make a 
change with the meadow, for you have 
had the pastor’s acre, hitherto, for 
meadow land, and the lease is out ; and a 
little more or less will not signify.” 

“ That is true,” said Axel, with some 
hesitation, for what he had promised in an 
emergency had often annoyed him since, 
and it always puts a man out of humor, 
when he must give up something from 
which he has derived advantage and pleas- 
ure. But Pomuchelskopp was so friendly, 
so well-meaning and upright ; he gave him 
so much good advice, — and — this he said 
by the way — if things didn’t go right, he 
was always at hand, — that Axel shook 
hands with him cordially, as he took leave, 
and sat down to his reflections, with his 
head full of paddocks. 

Habermann was crossing the court- 
yard ; Axel opened the window, and called 
to him : “ Plerr Habermann,” said he, how 


*D HARVEST. 165 

far have you gone with the barley-sowing, 
behind the park ? ” 

“ I think we shall finish the meadow 
day after to-morrow ; to-morrow we begin 
down here, by the brook.” 

“Good! From there up to the hill — 
I will tell you about the rest afterwards — 
you may sow Timothy, rye-grass, and 
white clover, with the barley. Send Trid- 
delsitz to Rahnstadt, in the morning, to 
get the seed from David.” 

“But pasture grass does not follow 
barley.” 

“Do you hear me? 1 wish this piece 
of ground sowed for a pasture. I am 
going to put up paddocks there, for the 
brood-mares.” 

“ Paddocks ? paddocks ? ” asked the old 
man, as if he could not believe his ears. 

“ Yes, paddocks,” said Axel, preparing 
to close the window. 

‘‘Herr von Rambow,” said Habermann, 
laying his hand on the window-seat, “ this 
is the finest soil in the whole meadow, if 
you take it away, there will not be enough 
for grain. That was the very reason the 
late Herr Kammerrath rented the pastor’s 
acre.” 

It was the very thing which Axel had 
said to himself, and he knew very well 
that the inspector was right ; but it is very 
irritating for a master, to acknowledge his 
inferior in the right. 

“I shall not rent the pastor’s acre 
again,” said the young Herr. 

The old man let his hands fall to his 
sides. 

“ Not rent the Pastor’s ac>-e again ? ” 
said he, “ Herr, the field has brought us 
— ■ I have kept a special book for it ” 

“ It is all one to me ! You hear me, I 
shall not rent it again.” 

“ Herr von Rambow, it cannot be possi- 
ble ” 

“ Did you hear me ? I shall not rent it 
again ! ” 

“ But Herr, I beg of you, reflect ” 

“ Eh, what ! ” exclaimed Axel, and closed 
the window. “ A tedious old fellow ! ” he 
exclaimed, “ an old fogy ! ” and he went 
back to his chair, and thought about his 
paddocks ; but the fine pictures which his 
fancy had painted would not return, he 
must first get rid of the thought that he 
had again committed an injustice. 

And the old man ? How deeply grieved 
he went back to the meadow ! How his 
attachment and gratitude to the late Kam- 
merrath struggled against the mortifica- 
tion he had so often endured from the only 
son of his old master! And of what use 
was this struggle ? Of what use was he 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


166 

to the young Herr ? None at all ! Step 
by step, the young man went forward to 
his destruction, and his hand which could 
save him, and so gladly would, was thrust 
aside, and his heart which was brimful of 
love and friendliness to the young Herr, 
and his whole household, was treated as if 
it beat in the breast of an unfaithful ser- 
vant, who thought merely of his own re- 
ward. 

“ Triddelsitz,” said he, when he came 
to the meadow, “ this corner, between the 
brook and the hill, the Herr will have 
sowed with grass ; he will come out him- 
self, and show you about it ; let them sow 
the barley a little thinner.” 

“ What is he going to do with it ? ” 
asked Fritz. 

“ He will tell you himself, when he sees 
fit. There he comes, from the garden,” 
said the old man, and went out of his 
master’s way. 

“Triddelsitz,” said Herr von Rambow, 
“ this piece of ground, up to the hill, is to 
be sowed with grass ; you shall get the 
seed from David to-morrow ; I am going 
to have paddocks here.” 

“ Famous ! ” cried Fritz. “ I have always 
thought of that, whether we couldn’t have 
paddocks, or something of the kind.” 

“ Yes, it is necessary.” 

“ To be sure, it is necessary,” said Fritz, 
fully convinced. For no one must think 
that he was a flatterer; he really meant 
what he said, and if he had known what 
an expense and what trouble these pad- 
docks would cost, he would certainly not 
have expressed this opinion ; but — as I 
have said before — in all such crazy per- 
formances, he was united, with his whole 
soul, to his master. 

“ Have you a measuring-rod here ? ” 
asked Axel. 

“A measuring-rod? No,” said Fritz, 
laughing, in a rather contemptuous and 
yet shamefaced manner, “ I have myself 
invented a measuring instrument. If you 
will allow me, I will show you,” and he ran 
to the nearest ditch, and brought out a 
great barrel-hoop, which was all entangled 
with strings; into the midst of these 
strings he put his walking-stick, as in the 
axle of a wheel, and let the machine run. 

“ The circumference of the hoop is just 
the length of the rod,” said Fritz, “ and 
this hammer strikes on the board, when it 
has turned completely round.” 

“ See ! see I ” cried Axel, his old delight 
in inventions reviving. “ And did you in- 
vent that, all by yourself? ” 

“ All by myself,” said Fritz , but he 
should have said his laziness invented it, 


for he had a great dislike to stooping his 
long body. 

“ Well, you can measure the land for 
me,” said Axel, and went back to the house, 
saying to himself, Triddelsitz was a skilful 
farmer, and a wide-awake fellow, he would 
rather have him for a manager than Haber- 
mann. 

After a while, the old inspector returned 
to Fritz, very much out of humor. 

“Triddelsitz,” said he, “what are you 
doing ? You have let them sow the 
barley much too thick.” 

“ God forbid ! ” said Fritz, “ I arranged 
the machine just as you ordered, I meas- 
ured the land myself.” 

“ It isn’t possible ! ” cried Habermann, 
“ then my eyes must deceive' me. Where 
is your measuring-rod ? ” 

“ I haven’t a measuring-rod,” said Fritz, 
“ and don’t need one either,” he added, 
spitefully, for the great approbation of the 
young Kerr had gone to his head. “ I 
measure everything with my instrument,” 
pointing to his invention which lay at his 
feet. 

“ What ? ” cried Habermann, “ what is 
that ? ” 

“An invention of mine,” said Fritz, 
looking as proud as if he had set up the 
first steam-engine. 

“ Ah ! ” said Habermann, “ well, take the 
trumpery, and measure me ten rods.” 

Fritz took his invention in hand, and let 
the thing run. Habermann walked by his 
side, and asked : 

“ How much have you ? ” 

“ Ten rods,” said Fritz. 

“ And I have nine, and two feet,” said 
the old man. 

“ It isn’t possible,” said Fritz, “ you 
must have counted wrong, my instrument 
is right.” 

“Five of my steps are a Mecklenburg 
rod,” said the old man hotly, “ but because 
you are a fool you have spoiled the whole 
field of barley. How can such trumpery 
measure in the fresh furrow, when it could 
hardly do upon perfectly even ground. 
Oh, laziness, laziness ! Go in directly, and 
bring me out a proper measuring-rod ! ” 
and he took his knife out of his pocket, 
and cut Fritz’s invention into little pieces, 
and then went to the machine, and ar- 
ranged it differently. 

Fritz stood there, looking first at him, 
and then at his invention, which lay about 
him, in little bits ; it is really a hard thing 
for a man, who wishes to accomplish 
something in the world, to be so taken 
down, at his first attempt. He had such 
benevolent intentions, — of course towards 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


himself first, but also towards all his col- 
leagues, and all the clerks in Mecklenburg, 
— that that infamous stooping might go 
out of fashion, and now his good intentions 
lay in fragments at his feet. 

“ I must bring the measuring-rod,” said 
he, “there is no help for that; but I 
would a thousand times rather manage 
with the gracious Herr, than with old 
Habermann.” And as he went up to the 
house after the rod, a great bitterness 
came over him towards Habermann, and 
he forgot all that he had promised him in 
a happy hour, — the best rooms in his 
house, two carriage horses, and a saddle 
horse, — and as he was speaking, for a mo- 
ment, with Marie Moller, who had again 
taken possession of his vacant heart, and 
learned from her that the young Herr had 
spoken sharply to Habermann at the win- 
dow, he comforted himself, and went off 
with the rod over his shoulder, and a bit 
of sausage in his hand, saying : 

“Well, the old man will not do for us 
much longer ; he is getting too old ; he 
has no capacity for new ideas.” 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Seed-time passed, and summer came ; 
the young Frau went out but little, and 
the comfort which the old inspector would 
have taken from her bright eyes and 
cheerful disposition he must do without, 
for she had something dearer, something 
of more importance to do, even if all this 
importance lay wrapped up in a bundle of 
flannels ; she knew how precious were the 
hopes and wishes which she cradled in her 
arms, and, for the time, all other duties 
were sacrificed to these. 

Over Axel also, came with his father- 
hood a vague, undefined feeling, as if it 
were his sacred duty and obligation to 
labor for his child ; he began to manage 
his estate with great diligence ; instead of 
superintending matters, in a general way, 
as he had hitherto done, like a sort of 
field-marshal, he conducted himself more 
like a corporal, who concerns himself 
about all the little details of his corporal- 
ship, and he stuck his nose into everything, 
even into the tar-barrel. He might have 
done that, and it is very well for a master 
to be interested in everything, but he 
should have left the commanding alone, 
for he didn’t understand it. 

He took hold of the management in the 
most unintelligent way, broke up the old 
man’s arrangements, and when he had 
brought everything into confusion, he 
went into the house, and scolded the old 
man : “ The old man has not the least 


167 

method ! He is too old for me. No, we 
cannot go on so any longer I ” And 
Krischan Segel said to Diedrich Snasel : 
“ Well, what shall we do now, the Herr 
says so, and the inspector says so ? ” 

“ Well, neighbor,” said Diedrich, “if the 
Herr says ” 

“ Yes, but it is all stuff and nonsense.” 

“ Then you need not do it, and if he has 
said it, it is no matter.” 

So the harvest ripened, and the blessing 
of the fields must be gathered into barns, 
the rye was cut, and had stood three days 
in sheaves. 

“ Herr Inspector,” called Axel from the 
window, and as Habermann came up he 
said, “to-morrow, we will bring in the 
rye.” 

“ Herr von Rambow, it will not do yet, 
yesterday and to-day it has been cloudy, 
and it has not dried ; the grain is still 
soft, and some stems are quite green.” 

“ Well, it will do. How will you bring 
it in ? ” 

“ If it must be brought in, we should 
begin right behind the village, and go 
with two gangs, one to drive into the great 
barn, the other into the barley barn.” 

“ Begin behind the village ? With two 
gangs ? Why ? ” 

“ The nearer we begin to the village the 
more we can get in in one day and the 
weather looks suspicious ; and we must 
bring it in in two gangs, and into two 
barns, or the people will get in each other’s 
way, and the wagons will interfere.” 

“ Hm ! ” said Axel, closing the window, 
“ I will think about it.” And he thought, 
and came to the conclusion that he would 
get in this harvest with Fritz Triddel- 
sitz alone ; Habermann should have noth- 
ing whatever to do with it, and they 
would show him that he was the fifth 
wheel of the coach. They would begin at 
the other end of the field, and bring it in 
with one gang. What one gang or two 
gangs were, he was not quite clear in his 
own mind, but they were only subordinate 
matters, probably nothing more than some 
whim of the old inspector’s, and he would 
have nothing to do with these, he meant 
to free himself from them entirely. 

The next morning, at six o’clock, he was 
on his feet, and went up in a very friendly 
way to the old man, who was busy in the 
yard. 

“Dear Herr Habermann, I have con- 
sidered the matter, — you must not take it 
unkindly, — but I have decided to get in 
this harvest, with young Triddelsitz, quite 
by myself, and to give all the necessary 
orders in person.” 


1G8 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


The old man stood before him, con- 
founded and dismayed. At last came, 
heavily and constrained from his breast, 
the words : “ And I, Herr, am I merely to 
look on ? And do you prefer the help of 
a stupid apprentice to my help ? ” 

He held his walking-stick in front of 
him, and looked at the young man with 
eyes which shone in his old face with as 
much youthful fire, as if all the energy and 
activity of his long life were concentrated 
in them, and said frankly : 

“ Herr, you were a little boy, when I 
devoted my whole abilities to your good 
father, — he thanked me, on his dying bed 
he thanked me ! but you ? You have 
filled my cup to the brim, with your in- 
gratitude, and now you wish to disgrace 
me ! ” 

Then he went off, and Axel called after 
him : 

“ Dear Herr Habermann, it is not so in- 
tended. I only wanted to try myself.” 
But it was so intended, as he knew very 
well ; he did not want the old man in his 
way, he looked after him too sharply, and 
he felt ashamed before him. 

The old inspector went to his room, 
opened his desk, and seated himself before 
it ; but it was long before he could think 
and begin anything, and meanwhile there 
was great commotion in the yard. “ Trid- 
delsitz ! ” “ Herr von Rainbow ! ” “ Where 
are you going, Jochen ? ” “ Eh, I don’t 

know, nobody has told me.” “ Fritz Piisel, 
what are you doing with the plough ? ” 
“ Eh, what do I know ? I was going to 
plough in the field.” “ Blockhead ! ” — 
this was Fritz’s voice — “we are going to 
get in the rye.” “ It is all the same to me, 
if I am not to do it, I will not,” — and he 
tumbled the plough out of the wagon, — 
“ what the inspector tells me, I do.” 

“ Flegel ! ” called the young Herr. 
“ Fritz Flegel ! ” repeated Triddelsitz, 
after him. 

“ What do you want ? ” roared a voice 
from the workshop. 

“ Where are the harvesting straps ? ” 
asked Fritz Triddelsitz. “ There, where 
you stand,” said the wheelwright ; “ and 
nobody has said anything to me about 
them.” 

“ Well, what shall we do ? ” asked the 
day-laborer Nasel. “ Lord knows,” re- 
plied Pegel, “ nobody has told us.” 
“ Flegel ! ” cried Fritz again, “ we are 
going to bring in the rye ; the wagons 
must be greased.” “ For all me,” called 
Flegel from his shop, “ the tar-barrel 
stands there.” 

“ Herr von Rambow,” said Fritz, “ where 


is Habermann ? shall I not call the in- 
spector ? ” 

“No,” said Axel slowly, turning to go 
away. 

“ Well,” said Fritz, who was growing 
distressed, “ we cannot do anything about 
it this morning.” 

“It isn’t necessary, we can begin this 
afternoon.” 

« But what shall the day-laborers be 
doing meanwhile ? ” 

“ Good gracious, the day-laborers ! ” 
said Axel, “ always the day-laborers ! The 
men can employ themselves usefully here, 
about the yard. Do you hear?” and he 
turned round, “you can help grease the 
wagons.” 

Meanwhile the old inspector sat at his 
desk, trying to write something, something 
difficult, which clutched at his inmost 
heart, he was going to separate himself 
from his master, to break down the bridge, 
which, between the late Kammerrath and 
himself, had united heart to heart ; he 
would give notice to quit. He heard, — 
though not distinctly, — the stupid commo- 
tion outside, once he sprang to the window, 
as if he would give an intelligent order ; 
no; that was all over, he had nothing 
more to do with it ! He tore up the letter 
which he had written, and began anoth- 
er, but that also did not suit him, he 
pushed aside his writing materials, and 
closed his desk. But what now? What 
should he begin? He had nothing to 
do, he was superseded ; he threw himself 
into the sofa-corner, and thought and 
thought. 

When the afternoon came, by the help 
of the old wheelwright and a couple, of 
intelligent old laborers, the wagons and 
the barns were so far ready that the har- 
vesting could begin ; and it began accord- 
ingly. Axel was on horseback, command- 
ing the whole ; Fritz, by his master’s order, 
must also be on horseback; because his 
old, deaf granny was lame, he rode the 
old thorough-bred Wallach, which was 
also a springer ; he himself was a sort of 
adjutant. 

Now they could begin. Six spans of 
horses were fastened to six harvest wag- 
ons, and driven in a row, up to the yard, 
— order is the principal thing, — on one 
side stood the pitchers and stackers for 
the barns, on the other the pitchers, loaders 
and rakers for the field, and, on a given 
sign, the stackers marched off to the barns, 
and the field people climbed into the wag- 
ons ; Axel and Fritz rode on, the wagons 
followed, and never in the world had there 
been such order, in the Pumpelhagen farm- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


yard, as on this fine afternoon; and we 
must have order. 

The old wheelwright, Fritz Flegel, stood 
in his workshop, and looked at the proces- 
sion : “ What is all that for ? ” said he, 
scratching his head, for he had no ap- 
preciation of this beautiful order. “ Well, 
it is none of my concern,” he said and 
went back to his work, “ but where is our 
old Herr Inspector ? ” 

He was sitting in his room thinking ; the 
first heat had passed, he stood up and 
wrote a brief letter, resigning his post at 
the next Christmas, and askiug leave of 
absence, during the harvest, s'nce he was 
superfluous under these circumstances ; 
then he took his hat and stick, and went 
out, he could stay in doors no longer. He 
sat down on a stone wall, under the shade 
of a lilac bush, and looked along the road 
to Warnitz, from which the harvest 
wagons must come ; but they came not, 
only Briisig came along the road. 

“ May you keep the nose on your face, 
Karl, what sort of performances are you 
carrying on here ? How can you get your 
rye in yet ? it is green as grass ! And how 
can you bring it in with six wagons in one 
gang ? and what keeps the loaded wagons 
down there in the road ? ” 

“ Br'asig, I don’t know, you must ask the 
Herr and Triddelsitz.” 

“What?” 

“ Briisig, I have nothing more to say.” 

“ What ? How ? What did you say ? ” 
cried Briisig, elevating his eyebrows. . 

“ I have nothing more to say,” said Ha- 
bermann quietly, “ I am shoved aside, I am 
too old for the young Herr.” 

“ Karl,” said Brasig, laying his hand on 
his old friend’s shoulder, “ what is the mat- 
ter ? Tell me about it ! ” 

And Habermann told him how it all 
happened, and when he had finished Brasig 
turned round, and looked savagely at the 
beautiful world, and ground his teeth to- 
gether, as if he had the world between his 
teeth, and would crack it, like a tough 
hazelnut, and called, with a voice half- 
choked with rage, down the Warnitz road : 
“ Jesuit ! Infamous Jesuit ! ” and turning 
back to Habermann said, “ Karl, in this 
Triddelsitz also, you have warmed a snake 
in your bosom ! ” 

“ Brasig, how can he help it ? He must 
do as he is told.” 

“ There he comes racing along, and the 
six wagons behind him, making a proces- 
sion — of loaded wagons 1 This is a com- 
edy, this is an agricultural comedy ! Go 
ahead I and when you get to the old 
bridge turn over ! ” cried Uncle Brasig, 


169 

dancing around, recklessly, on his poor 
gouty legs, as if they had brought about 
the whole mischief, and must be punished 
accordingly, for his fierce anger had given 
place to malicious joy. 

“ Here we have it ! ” he exclaimed, in 
great delight, for it happened just as he 
had said, as the first full wagon came up 
to the bridge, at a slow trot, it overset. 
“ Stop ! ” they cried, “ thunder and light- 
ning, stop 1 ” Fritz looked round, — well, 
what now ? He had not the slightest idea 
what to do ; fortunately, he saw Haber- 
mann and Brasig, on the stone wall, and 
rode up to them hastily. 

“ Herr Inspector ” 

“ Herr, you have crumbled your bread, 
and now you may eat it 1 ” cried Brasig. 

“ Dear Herr Inspector, what shall we 
do ? The wagon lies right across the 
bridge, and the others cannot get by.” 

“ Ride quickly ” 

“ Karl, hold your tongue, you are laid 
aside as a sheep for the slaughter, you have 
nothing to say,” interrupted Brasig. 

“ Ride quickly ” — said Habermann, “ no, 
let them alone, the servants are more intel- 
ligent than you are, they will soon get the 
sheaves out of the way.” 

“ Herr Inspector,” said Fritz anxiously, 
“it is not my fault. Herr von Rambow 
has ordered it all so, the wagons should 
drive in a row, and the men should drive 
quickly with the full loads.” 

“ Drive on then, till your tongues hang 
out ! ” cried Brasig. 

“And he is on horseback, on the hill, 
overseeing and commanding the whole.” 

“ Has he a sperspective in one hand, 
and a commander’s staff in the other, like 
old Bliicher, in the Hop-market, at Ro- 
stock V ” said Brasig mockingly. 

“ Ride up to the court,” said Habermann, 
“and see that the first loaded wagon 
drives out again quickly.” 

“ I must not do that,” said Fritz, “ the 
Herr has expressly commanded that the 
wagons should drive in again in a row, 
he says he will have order in the busi- 
ness.” 

“ Then you may tell him the finest don- 
key I ever saw in my life ” 

“ Br'asig, take care I ” cried Haber- 
mann. 

“ Was — was your little mule, Herr 
Triddelsitz,” concluded Uncle Brasig, with 
great presence of mind. 

Fritz rode up to the court. 

“ Karl,” said Br'asig,” we might go too, 
and observe the beautiful order from your 
window.” 

“Well, it is all the same,” said Ha- 


170 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


bermann, and sighed deeply, “ here or 
there.” 

They went ; the wagons drove into the 
yard, the first up to the barn-floor, the 
others waited behind, in a row. The 
men who unloaded were scolding that they 
must work themselves to death, the day- 
laborers were scolding about the damp rye 
and asking who should thrash it, in the 
winter, the servants were laughing and 
cracking jokes, in idleness, and Fritz rode 
up and down with an uncommonly easy 
conscience, for he was doing his duty, 
and following his master’s orders. When 
all was finished he placed himself again at 
the head of the empty wagons, and the 
procession moved off. The pitchers and 
stackers came round into the shade of the 
barns, laid themselves down, and took a 
nap ; they had time enough now. 

“ A very fine, peaceful harvest, Karl,” 
observed Br'asig, “the whole court is as 
still as death, not a leaf stirs. It is very 
pleasant for me, for I never saw such an 
one before.” 

“ It is not very pleasant for me, Br’asig,” 
said Habermann, “ I see trouble coming. 
Two or three more such pieces of stu- 
pidity, and the people will lose all respect 
for their master ; when they see that he 
orders things that he does not understand, 
they will do what they please. And the 
poor, unhappy young man ! and especially, 
the poor, poor young Frau ! ” 

“ There comes your gracious lady, just 
now, out of the house, and the nurse- 
maid follows, with the baby-carriage, in 
which lies the little sleeping beauty. 
But Karl ! come quick to the window ! 
What is this ? ” 

And it was really worth his while to go 
to the window, for Fritz Triddelsitz, who 
led the procession again, came gallopping 
across the court, on old Bill, and about ten 
rods behind him raced Axel, and shouted, 
“ Triddelsitz ! ” 

“Directly!” cried Fritz, but raced out 
of the other gate, and Axel after him. 

“ What the devil is this ? ” inquired Br'a- 
sig, and had scarcely time to express his 
astonishment, when Fritz and Bill and 
Axel came in again, at the water-gate, and 
raced again across the yard : “ Triddelsitz ! ” 
“ Directly ! ” 

“ Herr, are you crazy ? ” cried Br'asig, as 
Fritz rode past the farm-house, but Fritz 
gave no reply, and sat, all bent up, on his 
horse, laughing, amid the distress and sor- 
row around him, and would have greeted 
the gracious lady, but merely took off his 
cap, for the young Frau was asking anx- 
iously, “Axel, Axel, what is this?” but 


got no answer, for Axel was very busy. 
And, all at once, Bill took the hurdle, be- 
fore the sheepfold, and Fritz shot off head- 
foremost, into a heap of straw, and Axel 
turned his horse, and called again, “ Trid- 
delsitz ! ” “ Directly, Herr von Rambow,” 

said Fritz, out of the straw-heap. 

“ What devil rides you ? ” cried Axel. 

“He didn’t ride me,” said Fritz, as he 
stood — thank God ! — on his own feet 
again, “ I rode him ; I believe Bill took a 
leap with me.” 

“ He was trained for that,” said Krischan 
Dasel, who came running out of the stable ; 
“you see, gracious Herr, the Herr Count 
used to ride Bill to steeple-chases, and 
when he takes the notion he runs until he 
comes to some sort of hedge or gate, and 
then he springs over, and whenever he has 
done that trick, he stands like a lamb. 
You see, there he stands.” 

“Axel,” said the young Frau, coming 
up, “ what does all this mean ? ” 

“ Nothing, my child, I had given an or- 
der to the steward, and, when he had rid- 
den off, something better occurred to me, 
and I wished to recall my order, and so 
followed him ; his horse took a leap with 
him, and I rode back again.” 

“ Thank God,” said she, “ that it is all 
right. But will you not come in and take 
luncheon ? ” 

“ Yes,” said he, “ I have rather fatigued 
myself to-day. Triddelsitz, everything 
goes on in the usual order.” 

“ To command ! ” said Fritz, and Axel 
went into the house with his wife. 

“ Axel,” she asked, as they sat at the ta- 
ble, “ what does it mean ? With us, at 
home, in the harvest, only one loaded wagon 
came into the yard at a time, and here 
you had six at the same time.” 

“Dear Frida, I know the old method 
well enough, but in that way, disorder is 
unavoidable ; we have much better order, 
by having all the wagons driven in a row.” 

“ Did Habermann arrange it so ? ” 

“Habermann? No, he had nothing to 
do with it ; I felt the necessity of emanci- 
pating myself finally from the supervision 
of my inspector, and I have signified to 
him that I would get in this harvest with- 
out his help.” 

“ Axel, what have you done ! The man 
cannot suffer that.” 

“ He must , though ! He must become 
aware that I am the master of the estate.” 

“ He has always recognized you as such. 
Dear Axel, this will be a source of bitter 
sorrow to us,” and she leaned back in her 
chair in deep thought, looking straight be- 
fore her. Axel was not in a good humor ; 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


171 


then the door opened, and Daniel Saden- 
water brought a letter: “With the Herr 
Inspector’s compliments.” 

“ There it is ! ” said Frida. 

Axel read the letter: “The Herr In- 
spector gives notice to leave at Christmas. 
May go at once. I need no Inspector. 
Can get a hundred for one. But it pro- 
vokes me that he should give me notice, 
and that I did not get the start of him ! ” 
and with that he sprang up, and ran up 
and down the room. Frida sat still, and 
said not a word. Axel took that for a re- 
proof, for he knew very well that he was 
in a dangerous path ; but he would not al- 
low himself to confess it, he must lay the 
blame of his fault upon other shoulders, 
and so he said, in his injustice : 


“But that comes from your prejudice in 
favor of the old, pretentious hypocrite l ” 

Frida said not a word, but she rose 
quietly, and left the room. 

She sat that evening, by the cradle of 
her little daughter, and rocked her darling 
to sleep. Ah, if thoughts could only be 
rocked to sleep I But a child comes from 
our Lord, and has yet a bit of heaven’s 
own peace in itself, which it has brought 
from above ; human thoughts come from 
the earth, and care and sorrow dog their 
uncertain, weary feet, and an over-wearied 
man can not sleep. Yes, Axel was right, 
he could get another inspector, a hundred 
for one. But Frida was also right : a true 
heart was to leave her. 


172 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

In Jochen Nussler’s house, there was 
great joy and pleasure : Gottlieb was 
elected, was really chosen to be a pastor, 
and whom had he especially to thank for 
it ? Who else, but our good, old, simple 
Pomuchelskopp ; he gave the decisive vote. 
“Hauning,” said our old friend, in the 
church, while the three young candidates, 
in anguish and fear, were taking their turns 
in the pulpit, contending for the parish ; 
“ Hauning,” said he, as Gottlieb concluded, 
and wiped the sweat from his pale face, — 
“ Klucking, we will choose this one, he is 
the stupidest.” 

“If you are only sure of it,” said his 
dear wife, “ how can you tell one block- 
head from another ? ” 

“Kiiking,” said Pomuchelskopp, taking 
no notice of his wife’s pleasantry, perhaps 
because he was so accustomed to it, per- 
haps because Gottlieb’s sermon had touched 
him, for Gottlieb had preached from the 
text, “Forgive your enemies,” — “Hau- 
ning, the first, the one with the red face, is 
a son of old Pachter Hamann, and like 
goes to like, you should see, he would farm 
it himself ; and the second, see ! he is a sly 
one, Gustaving saw him looking at the 
field, a little while ago, and he asked the 
Pastor’s coachman who took care of the 
Pastor’s barn, the thing was tumbling to 
pieces. Neither of them would do; the 
rector’s son is our man.” 

“ He who reckons wrong, reckons twice,” 
said Hauning. 

“ I am not reckoning wrong,” said Pom- 
uchelskopp, “ the Herr von Rainbow and 
Niissler have declined the business, in writ- 
ing ; the young man cannot farm it himself, 
he is too stupid, and I need not allow an 
under-pachter ; he must rent the field to 
me, and I have it in my own hands, I can 
say, ‘ So much, and not a shilling more ! ’ ” 

4md so Gottlieb was elected, for nearly 
all the votes were given for him, only a 
couple of day-laborers from Rexow voted 
for their master, Jochen NUssler. It was 
merely a mistake, for they believed it was 
all the same, and it was done in friendship. 

And in Jochen Niissler’s house, there was 
great joy and pleasure, and the two little 
twin-apples were floating in bright sun- 
shine, down a clear brook, and nestled 
close to each other, and Mining floated 
joyously with her sister, although her own 
prospects were not so brilliant. But she 
had a little personal ground of rejoicing; 
her father, young Jochen, had come in from 
the field one day, and said this everlasting 
working was too hard for him, he wished 


Rudolph were there ; and Mother had said 
he ought to be ashamed of himself, he was 
still a young fellow ; and father had said, 
“Well, he would manage a little longer;” 
but it was the beginning of the final bles- 
sedness, and the thing was a little hook for 
her hopes to hang upon. 

With Lining, however, all was settled 
and arranged, and the outfit was pur- 
chased, and Frau Nussler’s living-room 
looked like a spinning-room and cotton 
factory ; here was spinning, and there was 
knitting, there was sewing and embroider- 
ing, and twisting and reeling, and skeins 
were wound on and wound off, and every 
one had his share, even young Jochen, and 
young Bauschan. Young Jochen was em- 
ployed as yarn-winder, and sat up stiffly, 
with his pipe in his mouth, and held out 
his arms with a skein of yarn, and his wife 
stood before him and wound it off, and 
when he believed he was to have a little 
relief, there came Lining, and then Mining, 
and he was a conquered man ; but young 
Bauschan had his share, also, they were 
always treading on his toes, and no one 
had so much reason to curse this wedding 
as young Bauschan, till, at last, he retired 
from the business altogether, esteeming 
the rubbish-heap in the farm-yard a more 
comfortable place than a room where an 
outfit was being prepared. 

“ So,” said Frau Niissler one evening, 
folding her hands in her lap, “ Brasig, for 
all I care, they may be married to-morrow, 
I am ready with everything.” 

“Well,” said Brasig, “then make your 
preparations, for the Pietist and Lining 
are sure to be ready too.” 

“ Ah, Brasig, how you talk 1 The prin- 
cipal thing is still wanting, the government 
has not given its assent to the parish — 
What do you call the thing ? ” 

“ Ah yes, I know. You mean the voca- 
tion, as it is generally called, but I think 
vocations is the right word, because the 
blessed Pastor Behrens, in my younger 
days, always said vocations.” 

At this moment, Krischan the coachman 
came in at the door : “ Good evening, 
Madam, and here are the papers.” 

“Are there no letters?” asked Frau 
NUssler. 

“ Yes,” said Krischan, “ there was a let- 
ter.” 

“ Why didn’t you bring it then ? ” 

“ Well,” said Krischan, tossing his head, 
as if such stupidity could not be laid to 
his charge, “ there was some trespass- 
money charged for it, and I hadn’t so much 
by me.” 

“ What did it cost ? ” 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


“Now just think of it, eight thalers! 
And they said there was a post-express or 
a post-payment, or something of that sort, 

— perhaps it was brought with post-horses, 

— and it was for a young Ilerr, who is our 
bridegroom.” 

“ Good gracious, Krischan, such an ex- 
pensive letter as that 1 From whom could 
it be ? ” 

“ I know something,” said Krischan, 
“ but I daren’t say it,” and he looked at 
Briisig. 

“ Before the Herr Inspector, you may say 
anything,” said Frau NUssler. 

“For all I care!” said Krischan. “It 
was from some woman-creature, but I have 
forgotten the name.” 

“ From a woman ! ” exclaimed Frau 
Niissler, “ to my son-in-law 1 and eight 
thalers to pay ! ” 

“ Everything comes to light ! ” said Br'a- 
sig, “ even the Pietists get found out ! ” 

“ Yes ; it all comes out ! ” said Kris- 
chan, going out of the room. 

“Krischan,” Frau Niissler sprang up, 
“you must go to Rahnstadt to-morrow 
with the rye ; ask particularly about the 
name, and I will give you eight thalers, I 
must have the letter.” 

“ Good, Madam,” said Krischan, “ I will 
get it.” 

“ Briisig,” cried Frau Niissler, throwing 
herself into her arm-chair, so that the 
poor old thing groaned with her weight, 
“ what has my son-in-law to do with a 
woman? ” 

“I don’t know,” said Briisig. “I am 
wholly unacquainted with his affairs, since 
I don’t trouble myself about secrets. Hear 
to the end, says Kotelmann, to-morrow we 
shall know.” 

“ But this Gottlieb, this quiet man ! ” 
exclaimed Frau Niissler. 

“ The Pietists are not wholly to be 
trusted,” said Briisig. “Never trust a 
Jesuit! ” 

“ Briisig ! ” cried Frau Niissler, and the 
old chair shrieked aloud, as she sprang up, 
“ if there is something concealed here, I 
shall take back my child. If Rudolph had 
done it, I could have forgiven him, for he 
is a rough colt, and there is no secrecy 
about him ; but Gottlieb ? No, never in 
my life ! One who can set himself up for a 
saint, and then do such a trick — don’t 
come near me ! I want nothing to do with 
such people ! ” 

And when Gottlieb came to the table 
that evening, his future mother-in-law 
looked at him askance, as if she were a 
shop clerk, and he were trying to cheat her 
with a bad groschen. And when he asked 


173 

Lining, after supper, if she would take a 
glass of fresh water up to his room, she 
told him Lining had something else to do, 
and when Gottlieb turned to Marik, the 
waiting-maid, she told him he might go to 
the pump himself, he could do it as well 
as Marik. And so she speedily drew a 
magic circle around him, over which no 
woman might pass. 

As they sat at table next morning, Kris- 
chan came to the door, and beckoned to 
Frau Niissler; “Madam, Oh, just a word.” 
And Frau Niissler motioned to Briisig, 
and the two old lovers went out with Kris- 
chan into the hall. 

“ Here it is,” said Krischan, pulling 
out a great letter, from his waist-coat 
pocket, “ and I know the name of the wo- 
man, too.” 

“ Well ? ” asked Frau Niissler. 

“ Yes,” whispered Krischan privately 
into Frau Niissler’s ear. “Mine is her 
own name, and Sterium is her father’s 
name.” 

“ What ? Is her name Mine Sterium ? ” 

“ Hoho ! ” cried Briisig, snatching the 
letter from Frau Nussler’s hand, “ that 
comes from ignorance of outlandish names, 
that is the vocation of the Ministerium,” 
and he opened the door, and shouted into 
room : “ Hurrah ! You old Pietist, you ! 
Here it is, and next week is the wed- 
ding ! ” 

And Frau Niissler fell upon old Gott- 
lieb’s neck, and kissed him, and cried, 
“ Gottlieb, my dear Gottlieb, I have done 
you a great wrong : never mind, Gottlieb, 
Lining shall take up water for you, every 
evening, and the wedding shall be when- 
ever you please.” 

“ But what is it ? ” asked Gottlieb. 

“No, Gottlieb, I cannot tell you yet; it 
is too shameful, but when you have been 
married three years, I will tell you all 
about it.” 

The wedding was celebrated, and a 
great deal might be told about it, how 
Mining and her sister Lining wept bitterly 
after the ceremony, how Gottlieb looked 
really handsome, since Lining had cut off 
the long locks, like rusty wheel-nails, out 
of his neck. But I will tell nothing about 
this wedding, but what I saw myself, and 
that was, the next morning, at half-past 
three, the two old friends young Jochen 
and young Bauschan, lying on the sofa, 
arm in arm, asleep. 

Habermann was at the wedding, very 
silent, his Louise was there also, her in- 
most heart full of love for her little Lining, 
but she was also silent, quietly happy ; 
Frau Pastorin had declined her invitation, 


174 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


but when the guests were crowding about 
the bride and bridegroom, and Jochen, 
afterwards, was trying to say a word 
also, the door opened, and the Frau 
Pastorin came in, in her widow’s mourn- 
ing, into the bright marriage joy, and 
she threw her arms around Lining’s neck 
saying : 

“ I bless you, I bless you from my heart, 
and may you be as happy there as I have 
been. You are now the nearest to him.” 
and she kissed and caressed her, and then 
turned quickly away, and went, without 
greeting any one, to the door ; there she 
said, “ Habermann ! ” 

But she need not have spoken, for he 
stood by her already, and when she was in 
the carriage, he sat by her side, and they 
drove back to Gurlitz. 

At Gurlitz, they got out of the carriage, ' 
the pastor’s coachman, Jura, must wait, — j 
and went to the churchyard, and they ! 
held each other by the hand, and looked at J 
the green grave, on which bright flowers j 
were growing, and as they turned $way, 
she said with a deep, deep sigh, as when 
one has drained a full cup, “ Habermann, 

I am ready,” and he placed her in the 
carriage, and drove with her to Rahn- 
stadt. 

“ Louise is discreet,” she said, “ she 
took charge of everything for me, this 
morning.” 

They went together through the new 
house, and the little Frau Pastorin thanked 
him, and kissed him, for his friendship, 
that he had arranged everything just as it 
was in Gurlitz, and she looked out of the 
window, and said, “Everything., every- 
thing, but no grave ! ” 

They stood for a long time at the win- 
dow, then Habermann pressed her hand, 
and said, “Frau Pastorin, I have a favor 
to ask, I have given notice to Herr von 
Rambow, and shall leave next Christ- 
mas ; can you spare me the little gable 
room, and will you take me at your 
table ? ” 

At a less agitated moment, she would 
have had much to ask, and much to say ; 
but now she said merely. 

“ Where Louise and I live, you are al- 
ways the nearest.” 

Yes, so it is in the world, what is one’s 
joy is another’s sorrow, and weddings and j 
graves lie close together, and yet the dis- 
tance between them is wider than be- * 
tween summer heat and winter cold ; but 
there is a wonderful kind of people in the 
world, — if one seeks one can find them, 
— who can throw a kind of wonderful, 
heaven-climbing bridges, from one heart 


to another, over the gulfs which the world 
has torn open, and such a bridge was 
built between the little, round Pastors’ 
; wives, Lining of Rexow, and Frau Pas- 
|torin of Rahnstadt; and when the key 
stone was dropped into place, exactly over 
I the parsonage at Gurlitz, they fell into 
each other’s arms, and held so fast togeth- 
| er that to their life’s end they were never 
parted. 

And our old Gottlieb ! He did his 
share, he brought stones and mortar, — he 
had but a brief experience in the pastoral 
office ; but I must say that, when he 
preached his entrance sermon, he thought 
less of himself than of his faithful prede- 
cessor, the old Pastor Behrens. 

“ He sticks to common sense,” said Bra- 
sig, as he came out of the church, and he 
patted Lining’s cheek, and gave Mining a 
kiss. “ The pietists often become very 
reasonable people ; but they think too 
much of the devil. I have a very good 
pietist acquaintance, that is the Pastor 
Mehlsack, a really clever man, but he is so 
taken up with the devil that he says 
scarcely anything about the Lord ; and 
there is the pastor in the beautiful Krakow 
region, who has paddagraphically dis- 
covered that there are three hundred, 
three and thirty thousand different devils 
running about the world, not counting the 
regular devil and his grandmother. And 
you see, Lining, what an inconvenience it 
is for us : you sit down in Rahnstadt with 
your good friends around a punch bowl, 
and you drink to this one, and to that one, 
and then to another, and at your side sits 
a gentleman in a brown dress-coat, — for 
the devil always wears a brown dress-coat, 
he must, that is his uniform, — and he 
talks, the whole evening, very friendly 
things to you, and when you wake up next 
morning there he stands before you, and 
says, “ Good morning 1 you signed your- 
self to me last evening,” and then he 
shows you his cloven foot, and if he is 
polite he takes out his tail, and slaps you 
over the ears with it, and there you are, 
his rightful property. So it is with the 
honest Pietists, the others are a great deal 
worse.” 

And so Gottlieb and Lining were settled 
in the pastor’s house, and Mining was 
naturally much with them, and it often 
happened that good old Gottlieb em- 
braced Mining, in the twilight, and gave 
her a kiss, instead of Lining; but it was 
all in friendship, he had no other design. 

But Pomuchelskopp had a design, when 
he came with his wife and Malchen and 
Salchen to make their first call on the 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


175 


young Herr Pastor. And this design was 
the pastor’s acre, and the blue dress-coat 
with the gilt buttons said to the black 
coat he would take the field, and offered 
him just half the sum which the Herr von 
Rainbow had given, and our old Hauning 
stood up and said, that was all it was 
worth, and it could not be otherwise dis- 
posed of, for Jochen Niissler had declined 
it, and old Gottlieb stood there bowing 
to the blue dress-coat, and was going to 
say “ yes,” when Lining sprang up like a 
ball, out of the sofa-corner, and said, 
“ Hold 1 In this business, I have a word 
to say. We must consult other people,” 
and she called, from the door, “ uncle 
Br'asig, will you come in, a moment ? ” 

And he came, placing himself auda- 
ciously in a linen frock, before the blue 
dress-coat, and asked, “ How so ? ” 

And Lining sprang towards him saying, 
“ Uncle Brasig, the field shall not be rented. 
It will be my chief pleasure.” 

“ So it shall not, my dear Frau Pastorin 
Lining,” and he bent down, and gave her a 
kiss, “ I will farm it for you my personal 
self.’” 

“I am not obliged to allow an under- 
pachter,” cried Pomuchelskopp. 

“Nor shall you, nor shall you, Herr 
Zamel ! I will merely manage it as in- 
spector for the Herr Pastor himself.” 

“ Herr Niissler gave it to me in writing.” 

“ That you are a blockhead 1 ” said his 
Hauning, and drew him angrily out of the 
room. 

“ My dear Herr Pastor,” said uncle Br'a- 
sig, going with Gottlieb into the garden, 
“you have not to thank me for this ar- 
rangement, but only your dear wife, Lin- 
ing. It is really worthy of notice, how 
positive these innocent little creatures be- 
come, after they are married. Well, never 
mind, perhaps they know best. You, from 
your Christian stand-point, about the 
blows on the right and left cheeks, you 
will read me a lecture about hatred, but 
hatred must be, — where there is no hate, 
there is no love, and the story of the 
blows is all nonsense to me. I have a 
hatred, I hate Zamel Pomuchelskopp 1 
Why ? How ? What ? He says ‘ Sie ’ to 
you, and wouldn’t you hate him ? ” 

“My dear Herr Inspector, this wicked 

axiom ” and he would, in his new office 

of pastor, have preached the old man a 
sharp sermon, as he had before about fish- 
ing if, Lining had not fortunately come 
along, and throwing her arms around his 
neck cried, “uncle Brasig, uncle Br'asig, 
how shall we repay you for giving up your 
leisure for us ? ” 


“ Don’t trouble yourself about that, 
Lining, where there is hate there is also 
love ; but did you notice how I called 
him merely Ilerr Zamel, although he was 
christened by the more distinguished name, 
‘ Zamwel ? ’ ” 

“ You mean Samuel,” interrupted Gott- 
lieb. 

“No, Herr Pastor, ‘ Samuel’ is a Jew’s 
name, and although he is a real Jew, — 
that is, a white one, — he was baptized by 
the Christian name of Zamwel, and his 
wife by the name of Karnallje.” 

“ Uncle Brasig,” cried Lining, laughing 
heartily, “ how you mix things together 1 
Her name is Cornelia.” 

“ It is possible, Lining, that she lets her- 
self be called so now, because she is 
ashamed of it, but I have seen it with my 
very eyes. The old pastor at Bobzin had 
died ; and the sexton had to keep the 
church books, and there it stood ; ‘ Herr 
Zamwel Pomuchelskopp to Fr'aulein Kar- 
nallje Kl'atterpott,’ for she is a born Kl'at- 
terpott, and she is a Karnallje too. But, 
Lining, let her go ; they shall not trouble 
us, and we two will have a pleasant time 
together, and you shall give me the little 
corner room, that overlooks the yard, and 
the devil must be in it, if in a year and a 
day, our young pastor isn’t in a condition 
to farm his land himself. And now, 
adieu,” and he went off, the old heathen, 
who could not give up his hatred. 

But he who will hate, must expect to 
be hated in turn ; and nobody was more 
hated that day than uncle Brasig. When 
the Pomuchelskopps had reached home, 
Hauning stroked the quiet, simple father of 
a family, and Mecklenburg law-giver, the 
wrong way, and stung his poor knightly 
flesh with thorns and nettles, and the con- 
stant conclusion of her satirical remarks 
was : “ Yes, Kopp, you are as prudent as 
the Danish horses, that come home three 
days before it rains I ” 

At last, our old friend could bear it no 
longer, he sprang up out of his sofa-corner, 
and cried : 

“ Malchen, I beg of you, have I not al- 
ways cared for you as a father ? ” 

But Malchen was as deep in the Ros- 
tock Times, as if her own bethrothal were 
recorded there. 

“ Salchen, i3 it my fault that the world 
is so bad ? ” 

But Salchen embroidered earnestly 
on the flesh of a little cupid, and sighed, 
as if it were a pity that her dear father 
were not the little cupid ; and to fill his 
cup, Gustaving came in, and rattled the 
keys on the board, as if he was attempt- 


176 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


ing to set this lovely family scene to ap- 
propriate music. 

But too much is too much ! Human na- 
ture can bear only a limited amount ; our 
old friend must show his refractory family 
that he was master in his own house, so he 
ran out of the room, and left them alone ; 
he ran into the garden, as far as the sun- 
dial, but what good did it do? He had 
exercised his rightful power on his own 
flesh and blood, but he himself was no 
happier, for before his eyes lay the pas- 
tor’s acre, the beautiful pastor’s acre. 
And beyond lay Pumpelhagen, fair, fair 
Pumpelhagen, which rightfully belonged 
to him, for he had given for the Pastor’s 
acre two thousand thalers, payment in 
advance, and how much more to Slusuhr 
and David, and that beggar, the Herr von 
Rambow 1 He could not bear the sight, 
he turned away, and looked up into the 
blue harvest heaven, and asked, was there 
no righteousness left in the world ? 

Then came Phillipping, and tugged at 
his blue dress-coat, — for out of spite to 
his Hauning, he had kept it on, against 
all law and order, — and said the Herr von 
Rambow was there, and wished to speak 
to him. 

The Herr von Rambow ? Come, wait 1 
now he had one whom he could torment 
in turn, upon whom he could avenge the 
sufferings his family had caused him ; the 
Herr von Rambow? waitl he was going 
in, but there he came himself, towards 
him. 

“ Good morning, my respected Herr 
neighbor, how are you ? I wanted to 
learn how it has gone about the pastor’s 
acre.” 

So ? Pastor’s acre ? No, wait, don’t let 
him see it I Pomuchelskopp looked down 
at the little bit of a nose which nature 
had given him, and said not a word. 

“Now, how has it been?” asked Axel. 
But Pomuchelskopp said neither good nor 
bad, and looked along his nose, as if it ex- 
tended for miles. 

“ My dear Herr Neighbor, what is the 
matter ? It is all right, I hope ? ” 

“ I hope so,” said Muchel, stooping to 
pull a weed out of the potatoes ; “ at least 
your note for the two thousand thalers is 
all right.” 

“ What ? ” asked Axel, astonished, 

“ what has that to do with it ? ” 

Wait, Axel ! that is all coming right ; 
keep still 1 he only wants to tease you a 
little. What must be, must. 

“ You, Herr von Rambow,” said Muchel, 
still plucking weeds, and turning a red 
face up to the young Herr, “ you have the * 


two thousand thalers, and I the Pastor’s 
acre, — that is to say, I haven’t it.” 

“But, Herr Neighbor, you were so 
sure ” 

“ Not nearly so sure as you, you have 
the two thousand thalers — haven’t you ? 
You got them ? and I ” — and he shook 
his left leg, and thrust the words out from 
his chest, “ and I — I have — the devil 1 ” 

“ But ” 

“ Ah, let your ‘ Buts ’ alone, I have 
heard ‘ Buts ’ enough this morning ; our 
business is about these notes,” and he felt 
in his pocket, “ So ! I have another coat 
on, and have not the pocket by me where 
they are. One was due three weeks 
ago.” 

“ But, my dear Herr Neighbor, how 
came you to think of it just to-day ? It is 
not my fault, that you have not been able 
to rent the acre.” 

It does you no good, Axel, keep still I 
He’ll not do anything, only torment you a 
little. Pomuchelskopp had heard too 
much already to-day, about that cursed 
field, to trouble himself about it any 
longer, so he passed by Axel’s remark, 
and took another turn at the screw. 

“ I am an amiable man, I am a friendly 
man ; the people say, also, that I am a 
rich man, but I am not rich enough to 
throw my money into the street, I cannot 
afford that yet. But, Herr von Rambow, I 
must see something, I must see something. 

I must see that the soul stays in a gentle- 
man, and when one has signed a note, then 
he must also see ” 

“ My best Herr Neighbor,” interrupted 
Axel, in great distress, “ I had clean for- 
gotten it. I beg you — I had not thought 
of it at all.” 

“ So ? ” asked Muchel, “ not ( thought of 
it ? But a man should think, and ” — he 
was going on, but his eye fell upon Pum- 
pelhagen ; no I don’t let him notice 1 why 
should he shake the tree, the plums were 
not yet ripe. “And,” he continued, “I 
owe all this to my friendship for that 
miserable fellow, that Brasig. So he has 
repaid the kindnesses I did him in his 
youth. I lent him money when he wanted 
to buy a watch, he has worn trousers of 
mine when his were torn, and now ? Ah ! 

I know well how it all hangs together, — 
that old hypocrite, Habermann, is be- 
hind.” 

Give the devil a finger, and he soon 
takes the whole hand, and then he leads 
you whither he will, and if it suits his 
humour, he holds you before him, and you 
must pray in distress and sorrow, in an- 
guish and pain. 


SEED-TIME AND HARYEST. 177 


So it was with Axel ; he must agree, 
in a friendly way, with the Herr Propri- 
etor, he must hew at the same timber, 
’against his honor and conscience, he must 
slander Brasig and Habermann. Why? 
Because the devil, with his note in his 
hand, pressed him down on his knees. 
And he did it, too ; the gay, careless lieu- 
tenant of cuirassiers lay on his knees be- 
fore the devil, and talked all sorts of mal- 
ice and detraction concerning Brasig and 
Habermann, to appease his old Moloch, in 
the blue dress-coat ; he was a traitor to 
his best friends, he was a traitor to his 
God. But when he came to himself suffi- 
ciently to be aware of what he had done, 
he was full of self-contempt, and rode has- 
tily away from the house, where he had 
left a great part of his honor. 

He rode home, and as he came to the 
boundary of his fields, he saw Habermann, 
in the oppressive heat of the sun, follow- 
ing the sowing-machine, and preparing 
everything for the seed-time, and for 
whom ? For himself, he must answer, and 
the coals of fire burned his head. And 
when he had ridden a little farther, a linen 
frock appeared before him, and Uncle Bra- 
sig came toiling up, shouting across the 
field, “ Good day, Karl ! I am on the 
right apropos, that is to say on a prelim- 
inary cow business and it is all right ; we 
are going to farm it ourselves, and Za- 
mel Pomuchelskopp may go hang;” and 
then he heard Axel’s horse, and turned 
round, and the worm, that was gnawing in 
Axel’s breast, made him a little more 
friendly to the old fellow, and he said : 

“ Good day, Herr Inspector ! What ? 
always on your legs ? ” 

“ Why not, Herr Lieutenant ? They 
still hold out, in spite of the Podagra, and 
I have undertaken to procure an inventory 
for the young pastor people, and am on 
my way to Gulzow, to Bauer Piigal ; he 
has a couple of milch cows, that I want 
to acquire for the Herr Pastor.” 

“You understand all the details of 
farming, Herr Inspector ? ” asked Axel, in 
order to be friendly. 

“ Thank God,” said Brasig, “ I am so 
well acquainted with all the details, that 
I don’t need to learn them at all. One 
of our kind needs only to cast an eye at 
anything, and he knows just how it is. 
Do you see, I was yesterday,” and he 
ointed over to Axel’s paddocks, “ down 
y your Podexes, and I saw that the mares 
and the colts were all down in the lowest 
one, and why? They steal the oats out 
of the crib, and if you want them to come 
to anything, you must put a padlock on.” 

12 


Axel looked sharply at him : was 
this a piece of pure malice on the old fel- 
low’s part ? Of course I He gave his horse 
the spur : “ Adieu I ” 

“If the blockhead won’t take it, he 
need not ! ” said Brasig, looking after 
him. “ I meant it well enough. It looks 
to me as if the young nobleman — 
well, take care ! You will yet come, on 
your hands and feet, to your senses. 
Karl,” he cried, across the field, “ he has 
pushed me off again ! ” and he went away, 
on his cow business. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Winter had come again, and the 
world must open to the rough guest. 

When he comes properly, let him come 
in, and welcome ; but when he comes at 
Christmas, with a wet shaggy coat, and 
fills one’s room with mud, and his boots 
smell of train-oil, he may stay away for 
all me. 

But this time he came differently. He 
came, as he has often come to my door, 
with ringing bells, and a snapping whip, 
and two gray horses before the sleigh, 
stamping their feet, and he sprang from 
the sleigh exactly like Wilhelm of Siden 
Yollentin, and rubbed his blue, frosty 
cheeks, and thrashed his arms about his 
body, once — twice — thrice. “ Good morn- 
ing, Herr Reuter, I have come for you. 
Compliments of the Herr and of the Frau, 
and you need only step into the sleigh, 
for there are heaps of foot-sacks and 
wraps there, and to-morrow is Christmas 
eve, and little Hans charged me to drive 
fast.” 

Yes, when he comes like that, we both 
sing, my wife and I, “ Come in, come in, 
thou welcome guest 1 ” and we treat the 
old fellow to a glass of wine, and then 
get into the sleigh, and off we go, — ten 
miles an hour, — and when old Winter 
sets us down at the door of Yollentin, 
Fritz Peiters says, “Why the devil have 
you been so long on the road ? ” and the 
Frau kisses my wife, and takes off her 
wrappings, and says to me, “ Uncle Reuter, 
I have got you short kale and long sau- 
sage,” and the two girls, Lising and An- 
ning, whom I have so often carried in my 
arms when they were tiny little things, 
come and give their old uncle a kiss, and 
then hang about my dear wife, and Fritz 
and Max come, who are now at the great 
Anclam gymnasium and greet us with 
a hearty shake of the hand, and little 
Hans, who has been waiting his turn, 
comes, and jumps and frolics around me, 
and climbs on my left knee, and there 1 


178 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


must hold him, the whole evening. And 
then little Ernest, the nestling, is pre- 
sented, and we stand about this little won- 
der of the world, and clap our hands at his 
wisdom and understanding, and then comes 
grandmother. And then begin the winter 
and Christmas plearmres, the tree blazes, 
and the yule raps are rapped, and then 
comes a yule rap from my dear wife, with 
a poem, the only one she ever wrote in 
her life : “ Here I sit, and here I sing, and 
ask for nothing more ” — and the melody 
goes no further, but it is enough of the 
kind. 

And then comes the first Christmas day, 
and all is so solemn and still, and our Lord 
strews the white snow flakes, like down, 
on the earth, that no noise may be heard. 
And the second Christmas day comes, and j 
then come the Herr Pastor Pieper, and the j 
Frau Pastorin, and the Herr Superinten- 
dent and his wife, and then comes Anna, 
who is my darling, for she used to be my 
scholar ; and then comes the Frau Doctor 
Adam, and the Frau Oberamtmann 
Schonermark, and Lucia Dolle, she sits on 
the left hand of the Adam and on the 
right of the Schonermark, that is between 
them, — and then! yes, then comes a 
round ball driving up, and the Herr Doc- 
tor Dolle sits beside the ball, and rolls it 
out of the sleigh, and gives it to a couple 
of maids who stand ready, — for they 
have experience in the matter — and they 
unwind from the ball furs and cloaks and 
comforters and foot-sacks, until the Herr 
Justizrath Schroder comes to light. But 
he is not finished yet, by a great deal. 
He must sit down in a chair, and Fika 
takes one foot, and Marik the other, and 
they pull off his great fur boots, while I 
hold him by his shoulders, lest they should 
drag him off the chair. 

Then comes another sleigh ! — and out 
springs Rudolph Kurz, jumping clear over 
the coachman’s whip, and behind him 
comes Hilgendorf. Do you know Hilgen- 
dorf? Hilgendorf, our Rudolph’s princi- 
pal ? No ? Let me tell you, then, in a 
word, Hilgendorf is a natural curiosity, he 
has ivory bones, — “ pure ivory,” and so 
strongly is this proprietor put together by 
nature, that one who ventures to slap him 
on the shoulder or the knee gets black 
and blue spots, merely on account of the 
ivory. 

Then we drink coffee, and the Herr 
Justizrath tells stories, wonderful stories, 
and he tells them with much Jire, that is to 
say, he is always lighting fresh matches, 
because he is constantly letting his pipe 
go out, and before long he has smoked up 


the whole cupful of lighters, and Max is 
stationed beside him, for the express pur- 
pose of keeping him supplied. And then 
i we play whist, with Von der Heyt and 
Manteufel, and all the old tricks and 
dodges, for otherwise the Herr Justizrath 
will not play. Then comes supper, and 
over the rabbit and roast goose, the Herr 
Justizrath makes the finest poetry, with 
the drollest rhymes, and there is great ap- 
plause, and when we rise from table, we 
press each other’s hands, and separate in 
peace and joy, each happy face saying, 
“ Well, next year, again ! ” 

But in Pumpelhagen, this year, there 
was no such merry Christmas; winter 
had come, fine and clear ; but that which 
makes it welcome, the close meeting of 
heart with heart, had stopped outside, 
instead of coming in, bringing joy by 
the coat-collar. Each sat with his own 
thoughts, no one exchanged his love for 
another’s, Fritz Triddelsitz and Marie 
Moller excepted, who sat together, the 
afternoon of the second holiday, and eat 
gingernuts, until Fritz said, “ No, I cannot 
eat more, Marik, for to-morrow I shall 
have to ride to Demmin, to deliver three 
tons of wheat ; and if I should eat any 
more gingernuts, it might make me sick, 
and I should not like that ; and then I 
must pack up our books for the circulating 
library, to exchange them in Demmin, so 
that we may have something to read, in 
the evenings,” and then he got up, and 
went to look after his mare, and Marie 
Moller had a misgiving that the heart 
could not wholly belong to her, whose 
affections she shared with a horse. 

In another room, Habermann sat, alone 
with his thougnts, and they were serious 
enough, when he reflected that his work- 
ing on this earth had come to an end, and 
that he might henceforth fold his hands in 
his lap ; and they were sad enough, when 
he reflected what an end it was, and how 
the seed he had sowed for a blessing 
seemed to have sprung up as a curse. 
In still another room sat Axel and Frida, 
together indeed, yet each was lonely, for 
each had his own thoughts, and was shy 
of exposing them to the other. They sat 
in silence, Frida quietly thoughtful, Axel 
out of humor; then sleigh bells were 
heard in the court, and Pomuchelskopp 
drove up to the door. Frida took up her 
needle-work, and left the room ; Axel must - 
receive the Herr Neighbor alone. 

A regular agricultural talk, about horse- 
raising and the price of whe^tt, was soon 
in progress between the two gentlemen, 
and the holiday afternoon would have 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


179 


passed innocently and peacefully enough, 
if Daniel Sadenwater had not brought in 
the mail-bag. Axel opened it, and finding 
in it a letter to Habermann, was about 
handing it to Daniel to deliver, when he 
saw his own arms on the seal, and, as he 
looked nearer, recognized his cousin’s 
handwriting. 

“ Is that confounded affair still going on, 
behind my back?” he exclaimed, almost 
throwing the letter in Daniel’s face : “ To 
the inspector ! ” 

Daniel went off, astonished, and Pomu- 
chelskopp inquired, very compassionately, 
what had happened to vex the young 
Herr. 

“ Isn’t it enough to vex one, when my 
blockhead of a cousin obstinately persists 
in his silly romance, with this old hypocrite 
and his daughter ? ” 

“ Oh ! ” said Pomuchelskopp, “ and I 
thought that was at an end, long ago. I 
was told that your Herr Cousin, upon 
hearing the report, which is in everybody’s 
mouth, had broken off the business sud- 
denly, and would have nothing more to do 
with them.” 

“ What report ? ” asked Axel. 

“Why about your inspector and the 
day-laborer, Regel was his name, and the 
two thousand thalers.” 

“ Tell me, what do the people say ? ” 

“Now, you know already. I thought 
you had given the old man notice because 
of it.” 

“ I know nothing of it, tell me ! ” 

“ Why it is universally known. People 
say, Habermann and the day-laborer made 
a compromise ; the inspector let the fellow 
get off, and had half, or more, of the stolen 
money, and he gave him a recommenda- 
tion, upon which he got taken on as a sail- 
or, in Wisman.” 

Axel ran about the room. “ It is not 
possible ! I cannot have been so shame- 
fully betrayed ! ” 

“ Ah I and the people say, also, that the 
two had planned it all out, beforehand ; 
but that I do not believe.” 

“ And why not ? What was the old sin- 
ner contriving with the woman, behind 
my back ? The fellow, who had always 
been sober before, must be intoxicated, at 
this particular time ! ” 

“Yes, but the burgomeister of Rahn- 
stadt himself noticed that.” 

“ Oh, the burgomeister 1 What could 
one do, with such a trial-justice? Now 
he thinks it was a poor weaver’s wife who 
stole the money from the laborer on the 
highway. And why ? Merely because she 
tried to get change for a Danish double 


louis-d’or, which she had found; for she 
sticks to that story, and the wise Herr 
Burgomeister has been obliged to let her 
go.” 

“ Yes, and the one who saw the louis- 
d’or, Kurz, the shop keeper, is a connection 
of Habermann ’s.” 

“ Ah 1 ” cried Axel, “ I would give a 
thousand thalers more, if I could get to 
the bottom of this meanness.” 

“ It would be a hard task,” said Pomu- 
chelskopp, “ but, in the first place, I would 
— when does he go ? ” 

“ Habermann ? To-morrow.” 

“Well, I would examine his books with 
the greatest care; there is no knowing 
but they may be wrong, also. Look par- 
ticularly at the money account ; one often 
finds out something in that way. He seems 
to be in pretty good circumstances ; he is 
going to live in Rahnstadt, on his interest. 
Well, he has been in a good place, for 
many years ; but I know for a certainty, 
that he had old debts to pay which were 
not insignificant. Lately, as I have learned 
from Slusuhr, the notary, he has done a 
considerable money business at high rates 
of interest, with his few groschen, per- 
haps also with money belonging to the 
estate.” 

“ Oh I ” exclaimed Axel, “ and once 
when I asked him ” — he stopped abruptly, 
not wishing to betray himself, but a feel- 
ing of hatred arose in him, as he thought 
that Habermann might have helped him 
then, and would not, because he did not 
offer him high enough interest. 

Nothing of importance was said, after 
this, for each had enough to occupy him in 
his own thoughts; and when Pomuchels- 
kopp drove home, well satisfied with his 
management, he left the young Herr von 
Rambow in such a bitter, venomous state 
of mind, that he was angry with himself 
and everybody else, and could not sleep 
the whole night, for hateful thoughts. 

In a third room, at Pumpelhagen, was 
another lonely man; Habermann sat be- 
fore his desk, with his books lying open, 
and was going over the last month’s 
accounts once more. Ever since he had 
managed for his young Herr, he had 
brought in his accounts, every quarter, for 
examination ; but at one time the young 
Herr was too hurried to attend to them, 
and at another he said ; “ Yes it is all 
right ; ” but scarcely looked at them, and 
again he said it was quite unnecessary for 
him to examine them. Habermann, how- 
ever, had not taken advantage of this neg- 
lect ; he kept his books very carefully, as 
he had always been in the habit of doing, 


ISO SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


and insisted that Fritz Triddelsitz should 
put down his grain account regularly, 
every week, and on this point, if anything 
was wrong, he scolded Fritz much more 
sharply, than about other things. 

As the old man sat at his work, Fritz 
came in, and asked about one thing and 
another connected with his journey to 
Demmin, and when Habermann had given 
him his instructions, and he was going out, 
the old man called after him, “ Triddelsitz, 
have you made out your grain account? ” 

“ Yes,” said Fritz, “ that is, I have begun 
it.” 

“Well, I wish you to finish it, this even- 
ing, and take care that it balances better 
than the last.” 

“ All right,” said Fritz, and went out. 
Daniel Sadenwater came in, and brought 
the inspector a letter ; the old man got up, 
and seated himself by the window, and 
when he recognized Franz’s hand, his heart 
beat quicker, and as he read and read, his 
eyes grew bright, a great joy beamed 
upon his heart and thawed all the frost 
and ice which had lately gathered there, 
just as the sun melts the snow from the 
roofs, and it falls in drops to the ground. 
He read and read, and his eyes grew moist, 
and tears dropped softly on the paper. 

Franz wrote him how he had heard that 
Habermann was to leave Pumpelhagen, 
and was now, therefore, free ; that, under 
the circumstances, the consideration he 
had hitherto exercised toward Axel must 
give way to Franz’s own earnest wishes, 
which left him no peace, and drove him, 
though in spite of her father’s request, to 
write to Louise herself; and he enclosed 
a letter which he begged Habermann to 
deliver to his daughter, and which he 
hoped might make three people truly 
happy. 

The old man’s hands trembled, as he 
laid the letter to his child in his pocket- 
book, his knees shook, as he walked up and 
down, so much was he agitated by the 
thought that upon the step which he was 
about to take depended the happy or un- 
happy future of his child ; he seated him- 
self in the sofa-corner, and it was long 
before he was composed enough to look at 
the matter with deliberation. So the 
morning sea rages in wild waves, and at 
noon, they are less boisterous, but it still 
looks dark and threatening over the water, 
and at evening the smooth mirror reflects 
the blue heavens, and the light summer 
clouds drift across it, and the setting sun 
frames the picture in his golden rays. 

So it was with the old man; as the 
waves of emotion subsided, grave thoughts 


came over him ; he asked himself, earnestly 
and carefully, whether it would be right 
for him to yield, whether he would violate 
his obligations, if he said, “ Yes,” against 
the will of his young master. 

But what obligations had he, to a man 
who had rewarded him with ingratitude, 
who had driven him away, almost with 
shame and disgrace? None at all. And 
the pride rose in him, which one in a de- 
pendent position must so often repress, 
and which he only knows, who has a clear 
conscience ; he would no longer sacrifice 
his best, most sacred feelings, to the in- 
gratitude of an unreasonable boy, or the 
happiness of his child to an unjust, aristo- 
cratic prejudice. And when he had reached 
this conclusion, out of the tranquil sea 
shone the reflection of a lovely evening 
sky, and he sat long, gazing at the future 
of his two children, as at bright summer 
clouds drifting over it, and out of doors 
the setting sun was shining on the white 
snow, and its beams fell upon his white 
hair. 

While he sat, absorbed in these happy 
thoughts, the door opened hastily, and 
Krisehan Degel rushed in : “ Herr Inspector, 
you must come, the Rubens mare has a 
dreadful colic, and I don’t know what to 
do for her.” The old man sprang up, and 
went in haste to the stables. 

Scarcely had he gone, when Fritz Trid- 
delsitz came in, carrying his travelling- 
bag, and the books for the circulating li- 
brary, with some shirts and his proprie- 
tor’s uniform, in which he meant to cut a 
figure at Demmin, and depositing them on 
a chair by the window, was about to begin 
packing when his eye fell upon Haber- 
mann’s account-book, for the old man, in 
his agitation, had forgotten to put his 
book away. 

“ That just suits me,” said Fritz, and 
took the book to enter his grain account, 
but he must carry it to the window, for it 
was growing quite dark. 

He had not quite finished, when Kris- 
chan Degel rushed in again. 

“ Herr Triddelsitz, you are to go imme- 
diately — quick ! to the granary, and bring 
a wrapping cloth, we are going to pack the 
mare in wet sheets.” 

"When Fritz heard some one coming, he 
thrust Habermann’s book behind him in 
the chair, and as Krisehan hurried him off, 
thrusting the key of the granary into his 
hand, he left the book lying there, and ran 
out. At the door of the granary, he met 
Marie Moller, who had just come from 
milking. “Marie,” said he, “do me the 
favor just to pack my things in the bag, — 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


181 


they are all on the chair by the window, 
and don’t forget the books ! ” 

Marie did it, and in the twilight, and 
lost in her loving reflections, she packed 
up Habermann’s account book with those 
which were to go back to the library. 

When Haberraann returned from the 
stables he locked up his desk without any 
premonition of evil, and the next morning 
Fritz Triddelsitz was off at cock-crowing, 
with his load of wheat, and his travelling- 
bag, also without any premonition of evil. 
When the old inspector had given the day- 
laborers their instructions, for the last time, 
he thought of his own affairs, and began to 
put up his luggage, that he might be ready 
to leave in the afternoon. He was not quite 
ready, when Daniel Sadenwater came in, 
and called him to the Herr von Rainbow. 

Axel had passed a very restless night, 
his best thorough-bred mare, on which he 
had set great hopes, had been sick, the 
flea, which Pomuchelskopp had put in his 
ear, had stung him, he was annoyed at his 
unaccustomed position of managing for 
himself, and he must pay Habermann his 
salary, and also for the outlays which he 
had made in paying the laborers’ wages, 
and he did not know how much it would 
be, or whether his cash would hold out. 
He could not humble himself however be- 
fore the inspector, who had given him 
warning, so he must try to make some 
difficulty in the business, and discover 
some reason for refusing to pay him im- 
mediately. Such a reason would be hard 
to find ; but he could pick a quarrel, and 
that might answer for a reason. A pit- 
iable means, although a very usual means ; 
and that Axel should resort to it, shows 
how rapidly his pride as a man and a 
nobleman was declining ; but nothing 
drives a weak man to underhand ways 
quicker than the need of money, when he 
must keep up appearances, and “ poor and 
proud ” is a true proverb. 

As Habermann entered, he turned to 
the window, and looked through the panes. 

“ Is the mare well again ? ” 

“No,” said Habermann, “she is still 
sick, I think it would be best to send for 
the horse doctor.” 

“I will give orders. But,” he added, 
sitting down, and still gazing stiffly out 
of the window, “ that comes from there 
being no proper supervision of the stables, 
from feeding the spoiled musty hay.” 

“Herr von Rainbow, you know, your- 
self, that the hay got wet, this summer, 
but it isn’t musty. And you yourself under- 
took the oversight of the blood-horses, for, 
a few weeks ago, when I had ordered a 


slight alteration in the stable, you forbade 
it, with hard words, and said you would 
take the horses under your own super- 
vision.” 

“ Very well ! very well ! ” exclaimed 
Axel, leaving the window, and walking up 
and down the room, “ we know all that, it 
is the old story.” 

Suddenly he stopped before Habermann, 
and looked him in the face, though a little 
unsteadily : “ You are going to-day ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Habermann, “ according to 
our last arrangement ” 

“I am not really obliged,” interrupted 
the young Herr, “to let you go before 
Easter ; you must at least stay till the day 
after New-Year’s.” 

“That is true,” said Habermann, “but — ” 

“ Oh, it is all the same,” said Axel, 
“but we must settle our accounts first. 
Go and get your books.” 

Habermann went. 

Axel had already laid his plans, that he 
might not be embarrassed about his 
money affairs; when Habermann came 
with his books, he would say he had not 
time to examine them, and if Habermann 
insisted, he could mount his high horse, 
and say, the day after New Year’s would 
be time enough. But he was to get off 
more comfortably, Habermann did not 
come back. He waited and waited, but 
Habermann did not come ; at last, he 
sent Daniel after him, and with him there 
came the old man, but in great excitement, 
very pale, and crying, as he entered the 
room : “ My God ! what has happened ! 

How«is it possible, how can it be ! ” 

“ What is the matter ? ” inquired Axel. 

“ Herr von Rambow,” cried Habermann, 
“ yesterday afternoon, I balanced my 
grain and money accounts, and locked 
up the book in my desk, and now it is 
gone.” 

“ Oh, that is admirable 1 ” cried Axel, 
mockingly, and the seed which Pomuchels- 
kopp had yesterday planted in his soul 
began to sprout and grow, and shoot up, 
“ Yes, that is admirable ! So long as no 
one wanted the book, it was there safe 
enough, but as soon as it is wanted, it is 
missing ! ” 

“ I beg of you,” cried Habermann in an- 
guish, “do not judge so rashly, it will be 
found, it must be found,” and with that, 
he ran out again. 

After a while, he returned, saying, in a 
weak voice : “ It is not there ; it has been 
stolen from me.” 

“ Oh, that is charming ! ” exclaimed 
Axel, working himself into a passion. 
“ At one time you say there is never any 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


182 

stealing here, — you know, about my two 
thousand thalers, — and another time it 
must have been stolen, — just as it suits 
your convenience.” 

“ My God ! my God ! ” cried the old 
man, “ give me time, Herr ! ” and he 
clasped his hands. “ Before God, my 
book is gone ! ” 

“ Yes ! ” exclaimed Axel, “ and the- day- 
laborer Regel is gone, too, and the people 
know how he got away, and my two thou- 
sand thalers are also gone, and people 
know where they have gone. Were they 
down in your book ? ” asked he, walking 
up to Habermann, and looking sharply in 
his face. 

The old man looked at him, he looked 
around him to see where he was, his folded 
hands fell apart, and a fearful trembling j 
went through his limbs, as when a great 
river breaks up its covering of ice, and the | 
blood shot through his veins into his face, 
like the water in the great river, when it 
is free, and the blocks of ice tower up and 
the dam gives way: ’Ware children of 
men 1 

“ Rascal ! ” he cried, and sprung at 
Axel, who had stepped back, as he saw the 
passion he had roused. “ Rascal ! ” he 
cried, “ my honest name ! ” 

Axel reached towards the corner where 
a gun was standing. 

“ Rascal ! ” cried the old man again, 

“ your gun, and my honest name ! ” and 
there ensued a struggle and a wrestling 
for the weapon, Habermann had caught it 
by the barrel, and tried to twist it out of 
his hand. Bang ! it went off. “ Oh, 
Lord ! ” cried Axel, and fell backwards 
towards the sofa ; the old man stood over 
him, holding the gun in his hand. Then 
the door was torn open, and the young 
Frau rushed in, through the powder- 
smoke, to Axel : “ Good Heavens, what 

is this ! ” and all the love which she had 
formerly cherished for him broke, like a 
ray of sunlight through the clouds which 
had obscured it, she threw herself down 
by him, and tore open his coat : “ My 
God ! my God ! Bipod ! ” 

“ Let it be ! ” said Axel, trying to raise 
himself, “ it is the arm.” 

The old man stood motionless, the gun 
in his hand ; the stream had gone back to' 
its bed, but how much human happiness 
had it ruined in its overflow ! and the 
meadows and fields of fertile soil were 
covered with mud and sand, and it 
seemed as if nothing could ever grow 
there again. 

Daniel came running in, and one of 
the maids, and, with their help, Axel 


| was lifted to the sofa, and his coat re" 
| moved ; his arm was dreadfully torn by 
( the small shot, and the blood streamed to 
the floor. 

I “ Go for the doctor ! ” cried the young 
| Frau, trying to stanch the blood with 
cloths, but what she had at hand was not 
enough, she sprang up to fetch more, 
and must pass Habermann, who still 
stood there silent and pale, gazing at his 
master. 

“ Murderer ! ” cried she, as she went out, 
“ murderer ! ” she repeated, as she came 
in again; the old man said nothing, but 
Axel raised himself a little and said : “ No, 
Frida, no 1 he is not guilty of that,” for 
even an insincere man will give his God 
the glory, when he feels His hand close to 
his life ; “ but,” he added, for he could 
not avoid the old excusing and accusing, 
“he is a traitor, a thief. Out of my 
sight I ” 

The blood shot into the old man’s face 
again, he would have spoken, but he saw 
that the young Frau turned away from 
him, he staggered out of the door. 

He went to his room ; “ He is a traitor, 
a thief,” kept ringing through his head. 
He placed himself at the window, and 
looked out into the yard, he saw all that 
was passing, but saw it as in a dream ; “ A 
traitor, a thief,” that was all he under- 
stood, that alone was real. Krischan 
Degel drove out of the yard, he knew he 
was going for the doctor, he opened the 
window, he wanted to call to him to drive 
as _ fast as possible; but — “a traitor, a 
thief,” he spoke it out, involuntarily ; he 
closed the window. But the book ! The 
book must be found. The book ! He 
opened the chests and boxes which he had 
packed, he scattered his little possessions 
all about the room, he fell upon his old 
knees,— not to pray, for “he is a traitor, 
a thief,” but to feel with his cane under 
his desk, under his chest of drawers, under 
his bed ; he must find the book, the book ! 
But he found nothing. « A traitor, a thief.” 
He stood at the window again, he looked 
out ; but he had his cane in his hand, what 
did he want of his cane ? Would he go 
out ? Yes, he would 4 go out, he would go 
away, away from here ! — away ! He put 
on his hat, he went out of the door, and 
the gate. Whither ? It was all one ! it 
made no difference ; but, from old habit, 
he took the path to Gurlitz. With the 
old way, came the old thoughts; “My 
child ! my child ! ” he cried, “ my honest 
name ! ” He felt in his breast pocket, yes, 
the pocket-book was there, he had his 
daughter’s happiness in his hands. What 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


should he do now ? He had ruined this 
letter for his child, it was destroyed for- 
ever with his honest name and by this 
cursed shot ! and . the first bitter tears 
were wrung from his tormented soul, and 
with them his good conscience came back, 
and its soft hand made room in his con- 
strained breast, so that he could draw 
breath again ; but his honest name, and 
his child’s happiness, were gone for ever. 
Oh, how happy he was yesterday, sitting 
in his room, with the letter in his hand 
that Franz had written to his daughter, 
what blessedness that letter was to bring 
her, what happiness would bloom from it, 
what a bright future he had painted ! and 
now it was all gone and lost, and the 
brand which was impressed upon him must 
burn into the heart of his only child, and 
devour and consume it. 

But what had his child to do with it V 
Why should it stand in the way of her 
happiness ? No, no ! The curse and dis- 
grace of the father was visited npon the 
children, to the fourth generation, and the 
same thorny hedge, which would sever 
him now from all honest people, would in- 
terpose between his child and happiness. 
But he was innocent ! Who would be- 
lieve him, if he said so ? Those whose 
white garments of innocence the world 
has once soiled with filth must walk in 
them through life ; no one can wash them 
clean, even if our Lord should come down 
from heaven, and do signs and wonders, 
that innocence should be brought to light, 
— the world would not believe. “ Oh ! ” 
he cried, “ I know the world ! ” Then his 
eye fell upon Gurlitz, upon Pomuchels- 
kopp’s manor house, and out of a corner 
of his heart, which he had believed forever 
locked, rose a dark spirit and spread her 
black wings over him, so that the bright 
winter sunlight no longer fell upon him ; 
this was hate, which sprang up in his 


183 

heart. The tears of compassion, which he 
had wept over his child, dried in his eyes, 
and the voice which had spoken in him, 
against his will, called again. “ A traitor, 
a thief! ” and the dark spirit moved her 
wings, and whispered thoughts to him, 
which flashed out like flames: “It is his 
doing, and we are enemies once more ! ” 
He went through Gurlitz, looking neither 
to the right nor the left, all which he had 
held dear had disappeared for him, he was 
merely conscious of his hatred, and that 
drove to a single aim, and in a definite 
path. 

Brasig stood in the way, near the Pas- 
tor’s barn, he went to meet his old friend : 
“ Good morning, Karl. Well, h ow is it ? 
But what ails you ? ” 

“Nothing, Brasig. But leave me, let 
me alone ! Come to-morrow to Rahnstadt, 
come to-morrow ” and he passed on. 

As he came to the elevation, beyond 
Gurlitz, from which Axel had first shown 
his young wife his fair estate of Pumpel- 
hagen, and where her warm heart had 
throbbed with such pure joy, he stood 
still, and looked back ; it was the last 
point from which he could see the place 
where he had lived so many happy years, 
where he had suffered such fearful an- 
guish, and where his honor and happiness 
had been turned to disgrace and misery. 
A tempest raged in his soul. “ Miserable 
wretch ! Liar ! And she ? ‘ Murderer,’ 

she called me, and yet again, * murderer ! ’ 
and when she had spoken the shameful 
word she turned herself away from me. 
Your unhappiness will not wait long, — I 
could, and would, have turned it aside, I 
have watched over you, like a faithful 
dog, and like a dog, you have thrust me 
out ; but ” — and he walked on toward 
Rahnstadt, and hate hovered over him, on 
her dark wings. 


184 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER XXXI. 

In Rahnstadt, in the Frau Pastorin’s 
house, there was great running up and 
down stairs, the day after Christmas, for 
Louise was putting the last touches to the 
arrangement of her father’s room : and 
when she would think, now it was all ready, 
there was always something more that she 
must do for his comfort. Noon came ; but 
her father had not yet arrived, although 
they expected him to dinner; she put a 
plate for him, however, for he might still 
come. 

“I don’t know,” she said to the Frau 
Pastorin, “ why my heart is so heavy to- 
day.” 

“ What ? ” cried the little Frau, “ only 
three months in the city, and already hav- 
ing premonitions, like a tea-drinking city 
lady ? What has become of my fresh little 
country girl ? ” and she patted her daugh- 
ter’s cheek, affectionately. 

“No,” said Louise, taking the friendly 
hand, and holding it fast in her own, “ I do 
not mind such vague presentiments, mine 
are unfortunately very definite misgivings, 
whether my father will feel contented here, 
in the loss of his usual occupations, and 
will accustom himself to city life.” 

“ Child, you talk as if Rahnstadt were a 
Residence ; no, — thank God ! the geese 
go barefoot here, as well as in Pumpelhagen, 
and if your father takes pleasure in agri- 
cultural industry, he can see our neighbor 
on the right carting manure with two 
horses, and our neighbor on the left with 
three ; and if he enjoys conversation about 
farming he has only to turn to our landlord, 
Kurz, who will talk to him about renting 
fields, and such matters, till he is as weary 
of them as we are.” 

Louise laughed, and as they rose from 
dinner, she said, “ So, mother, now lie down 
and rest a little, and I will walk along the 
Gurlitz road, and perhaps I shall meet my 
father.” 

She wrapped her cloak around her, and 
tied a warm hood over her head, and went 
along the road, where she was constantly 
in the habit of walking, for it brought her 
nearer to the place where she had been so 
happy, and when she had time she walked 
as far as the little rising ground from which 
she could see Gurlitz, with the church, the 
parsonage, and the church-yard, and if she 
had still more time, she went on to see 
Lining and Gottlieb, and to talk with them 
of old and new times. She walked on and 
on, but her father came not, the east wind 
blew in her face, and colored her cheeks 
rosy red, till her lovely countenance looked 


out of the dark hood like a bright spring 
day, when it shines out of dark rain-clouds, 
filling the world with joy and hope. But 
the water stood in her eyes ; was that bo- 
cause of the east wind? Was it because 
she was looking so sharply along the road 
for her father ? Was it because of her 
thoughts ? No, it was not the east wind, 
for she had stopped, and was looking 
towards the west, and yet her eyes were 
full of tears ; it was not from looking for 
her father, for she was gazing in the oppo- 
site direction, where the sun, like a ball of 
fire, was just sinking behind the black fir- 
trees; it must have been her thoughts. 
Such thoughts as, in joy and grief, play 
around a young heart, entwining it as 
with a wreath of roses, so that it rejoices 
in utter gladness, and again weeps bitterly, 
when the thorns of the rose-wreath wound 
it to bleeding. But why was she looking 
westward? Ah, she knew that he was 
there, who sent her from thence the dearest 
greetings. 

“ Westward, oh, westward fly, my keel, 
Westward my heart aspires, 

My dying eyes will look to thee, 

Thou goal of my desires ! ” 

The old rhyme whispered itself in her 
ear, and she stood there flushing rosy-red, 
full of sweet unrest over the secret power 
that spoke in her heart, like a bright spring 
day when it goes to rest, and the glowing 
clouds promise another fair day for the 
morrow. 

She went farther, to the elevation where 
her father had stood, a couple of hours be- 
fore, and tasted the bitterness with which 
his fellow-men had filled his cup ; she stood 
there, looking towards Pumpelhagen and 
Gurlitz, and the love which she had re- 
ceived from her fellow-creatures, in these 
places, overflowed her heart, and the curses 
uttered in hatred and misery, by that poor 
old heart, were washed away from the tab- 
lets of the recording angel, by the daugh- 
ter’s prayers, and her tears of love and 
thankfulness. 

It was a mile from Rahnstadt to Gurlitz, 
and the winter sun was near its setting ; 
she must go home. Then she saw a man 
approaching from Gurlitz, it might be her 
father, she stood still awhile, looking ; no, 
it was not her father! and she went on, 
but turned round again + o look, and now 
perceived that it was U le Brasig, who 
was hurrying up to her. 

“ God bless you, Louise ! How ? Why 
are you standing here, on the open road, 
in this bitter wind ? Why don’t you go in, 
and see the young folks at the parsonage ? ” 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


“ No, Uncle Brasig, not to-day. I merely 
came out to meet my father.” 

“ What ? Karl Habermann ? Why, 
isn’t he with you ? ” 

“No, not yet.” 

“But he went through Gurlitz, this 
morning, about half past twelve.” 

“ He has been here ? Oh, where can 
he be ? ” 

Brasig remembered Habermann’s agi- 
tated appearance, and, seeing the anxiety 
of his child, he tried to comfort her : “ It 
is often the case with us farmers, we have 
one thing here, and another there, to at- 
tend to ; possibly he has gone over to Gul- 
zow, or possibly he may be already in 
Rahnstadt, attending to some business 
there. But I will go with you, my child,” 
he added, “ for I have business in Rahn- 
stadt, and shall'stay all night, and get back 
my three thalers from that sly rogue of a 
Kurz, the syrup-prince, which he won 
from me at Boston. It is our club-day.” 

When they had gone a little way, they 
were met by a chaise from Rahnstadt. It 
contained Krischan Dasel and Dr. Strump. 
The doctor stopped, saying, “ Have you 
heard ? Herr von Rambow has met with 
an accident, with a fowling-piece ; he has 
shot himself in the arm. But I have no 
time, the coachman was obliged to wait 
for me a great while ; I was not at home. 
Go ahead ! ” 

“ What is this ? ” cried Louise. “ Has 
my father left Pumpelhagen, when such an 
accident has just happened ? He would 
not have done that.” 

“It may have occurred since he left,” 
said Brasig, but when he thought of 
Habermann’s appearance that morning, he 
did not believe his own excuse. Louise 
grew more and more anxious, and has- 
tened with quicker steps. Between her 
father’s delay and the accident at Pumpel- 
hagen she could find no probable connec- 
tion, and yet it seemed to her that they 
must have something to do with each 
other. 

Meanwhile, Habermann had arrived in 
Rahnstadt, at the Frau Pastorin’s. He 
had turned off from the direct road, and 
made a circuit, until he could collect him- 
self, that he might not appear before his 
child in such fearful excitement. As he 
entered the Frau Pastorin’s door, he had 
indeed controlled himself, but the terrible 
conflict he had just fought out in his 
heart left a lassitude and weariness, which 
made him look ten years older, and could 
not but strike the little Frau immediately. 
She sprang up, letting the coffee boil over, 
which she was taking off, and cried : 


185 

“ Good heavens ! Habermann, what ia 
the matter ? Are you sick ? ” 

“No — yes, I believe so. Where is 
Louise ? ” 

“ She went to look for you, didn’t you 
meet her? But sit down! Bless me, 
how exhausted you look ! ” 

Habermann sat down, and looked about 
the room, as if to see whether he were 
alone with the Frau Pastorin. 

“ Habermann, tell me, what ails you ? ” 
said the little Frau, grasping his cold 
hands in her own. 

“ It is all over with me ; I must go 
through the world, henceforth, as a useless 
and dishonored man.” 

“ Oh, no ! no ! Don’t talk like that ! ” 

“ That the opportunity of working 
should be taken from me, I can bear, 
though it is hard ; but that I should also 
lose my honest name, that pierces me to 
the heart, that I cannot bear.” 

“ And who should take that from you ? ” 
asked the Frau Pastorin, looking him 
trustfully in the eyes. 

“ The people who know it best, the Herr 
von Rambow and his wife,” said the old 
man, and began to tell the story with a 
weak, and often broken, voice ; but when 
he came to the end, how the young Frau 
had also deserted him, had turned her 
back upon him, and let him go out of the 
door, as a thief and a traitor, then his an- 
ger broke out, he sprang from his chair, 
and walked up and down the room, with 
gleaming eyes and clenched fist, as if he 
were ready for combat with the wicked 
world. 

“ Oh,” he cried, “ if that were only all ! 
But they have injured me more cruelly 
than they know, they have ruined my 
child’s happiness along with mine. There ! 
read it, Frau Pastorin ! ” and he gave her 
the letter from Franz. She read, the 
sheet trembling in her hand, so greatly 
had the story excited her, while he stood 
before her, and looked at her, without once 
turning away his eyes. 

“ Habermann,” she said, grasping his 
hand, when she had read it, “ don’t you see 
the finger of God ? The injury which one 
cousin has done you, shall be made up to 
you by the other.” 

“No, Frau Pastorin,” said he sternly, “I 
should be the scoundrel which the world 
will henceforth deem me, if I could let a 
brave, trustful man take to his house a 
wife with a dishonored name. Poor and 
honest ! For all I care ! But dishonest ? 
never ! ” 

“Dear heart!” cried the little Frau, 
“ where is my Pastor, now ? If my Pas- 


186 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


tor were only here ! He could help and 
counsel us. 

“ That he could,” said Habermann, to 
himself. “I cannot do it,” he cried, “my 
child must decide for herself, and you 
must help her, you have done more to ed- 
ucate her sense of right and wrong, than I 
alas ! have been able to do. If my child 
considers it right and honourable, in spite 
of everything, to accept his offer, if you 
yourself agree with her, then let it be 1 I 
will exert no influence in the matter, I 
will not see her, until she has decided. 
Here is a letter from Franz to her, give it 
to her, telling her, beforehand, what has 
happened; just as I have told you, is the 
truth. I will go up to my room ; I cannot, 
I dare not touch a finger.” He left the 
room, but came back again: “Frau Pas- 
torin, consult her happiness only, have no 
regard for mine ! Forget what I said be- 
fore. I will do what I can to keep my 
dishonoured name in concealment.” 

He went out again, saying to himself as 
he mounted the stairs, “ I cannot do other- 
wise, I cannot do otherwise.” As he 
threw himself down on the sofa, in his 
little room, and everywhere about him 
saw the hand of his daughter, how she had 
arranged and ordered everything for his 
comfort, he put his hand over .his eyes, 
and wept. “ Shall I lose all this ? ” He 
sighed deeply. “ And why not ? why not ? 
If it is for her happiness,” he cried aloud, 
“ I will never see her again 1 ” The house- 
door opened, he heard Brasig’s voice, he 
heard the bright greeting of his child. 
All was still again, he listened for every 
sound. Now Frau Pastorin was telling 
what had happened, no^ his darling’s 
heart was torn. Slowly there came steps 
up the stairs ; Brasig came in, looking as 
silent and composed as if death were walk- 
ing over his grave, his eyebrows, which he | 
generally raised so high when anything 
unusual occurred, lay deep and heavy over 
his eyes, he said nothing but “I know, 
Karl, I know all,” and sat down by his 
friend, on the sofa. 

So they sat long, in the half-twilight, 
and neither spoke ; at last Brasig grasped 
Habermann’s hand : “ Karl,” said he, “ we 
have known each other these fifty years. 
Don’t you remember, at old Knirkstadt’s ? 
What a pleasant youth we had ! always 
contented and joyous! and, excepting a 
couple of foolish jokes that we played to- 
gether, we have, upon the whole, nothing 
to reproach ourselves with. Karl, it is a 
comfortable sort of feeling, when one can 
look back upon old days, and say, ‘ Follies, 
to be sure, but nothing base ! ’ ” 


Habermann shrank back, and drew his 
hand away. 

“ Karl,” said Brasig again, “ a good con- 
science is a fine thing, when one is grow- 
ing old, and it is noticeable, quite notice- 
able, how this good conscience stands by 
us when we are old, and will not leave 
us. Karl, my dear old boy ! ” and he 
fell upon Habermann’s neck, and wept 
bitterly. 

“ Brasig,” said Habermann, “ don’t make 
my heart heavy, it is heavy enough al- 
ready.” 

“ Eh, how, Karl ! How can your heart 
be heavy V Your heart is as pure as Job’s ; 
it should be as light as a lark, which 
mounts in the clear heavens ; for this story 
of the infamous — no, I won’t talk about 

that ; I would say Why, what were we 

talking about ? Yes, so ! about the con- 
science. It is a wonderful thing, about 
the conscience, Karl! For instance, there 
is Kurz, with his, for he has one, as well as 
you and I, and I suppose he will stand be- 
fore God with it sometime ; but before me 
he stands very badly, for he peeps at the 
cards, when we play Boston ; he has a sort 
of groschens-conscience ; for, you see, in 
great things, he is quite correct, for ex- 
ample, in renting the house to the Frau 
Pastorin ; but ell-wise, and pot-wise and 
pound-wise, he takes what he can get, he 
isn’t at all ashamed, that is when he can 
get anything ; when he don’t get anything 
he is ashamed of himself. And let me tell 
you, Karl, if you live here, you must have 
a good deal of intercourse with him, and 
that pleasure will be a good deal like his 
conscience, for he is fond of discoursing 
about farming, and it is as if he were tak- 
ing a drive for pleasure in a manure-cart. 
It will be no pleasure to you, and so I 
have thought, when I have seen our young 
pastor through his spring seed-time, and 
everything is in train, I will come over 
here to you, and we can cheer each other 
up a little ; and then in harvest time, we 
can go out to Gurlitz, to keep the poor fel- 
low from getting into difficulties ; and he 
will not, for Jura is a considerate fellow, 
and he himself begins, — thank God, — to 
do all sorts of useful things, with Lining’s 
assistance. And when he has finished his 
first year, you shall see, he will be quite 
rid of his Pietistry, but we must let him 
struggle a little sometimes, that he may 
learn to know himself' and the world, and 
find that there is something more in hu- 
man life than to read psalm-books. Yes, 
and then I will come to you, Karl, and 
we will live as they do in Paris, and you 
shall see, Karl, this last quarter of our 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


187 


lives shall be the best piece of the whole 
ox” 

^And he embraced him again, and talked 
of past times and future, alternately, like 
a mother trying to divert her child to 
other thoughts. The moon shone in at 
the window, and what can better heal a 
torn heart, than its soft light, and the love 
of an old, tried friend, who has been true 
to us ? I always think that the bright, 
warm sunshine is more suitable for love, 
but with friendship, the moonlight har- 
monizes best*) 

While they were sitting thus, the door 
opened, and, with light step, a slender 
form entered the room, and remained 
standing, in the full moonlight, the arms 
crossed on her breast, and the white face 
gleaming in the moonshine, as if it were 
a statue of white marble, against a dark 
wall of yew-trees: “Was hat man Dir, 
Du armesKind, gethan? ”* 

Brasig left the room, without speaking. 
Habermann covered his eyes with his 
hand as if something pierced him to his 
inmost heart. The slender form threw 
itself at his side, the folded arms opened 
to embrace him, and the white face 
pressed itself to his. For a long time, 
there was silence, at last the old man 
heard light, soft words breathed in his 
ear : “I know what you think right ; I am 
your child — am I not? Your darling 
child.” 

Habermann threw his arm about his 
darling child. 

“ Father, father ! ” she cried, “ we will 
not part! My other father, who is now 
with God, has told me how you would not 
be separated from me, when you were in 
the deepest trouble and sorrow, when the 
good laborer’s wife wanted to keep me; 
now you are again in trouble and sorrow, 
would you be parted from me now ? should 
I leave you now ? ” and she pressed him to 
her heart, saying softly, “thy name is 
my name, thy honor is my honor, thy life 
is my life.” 

Much was spoken, in the sweet moon- 
light, in the cozy little room, but of all 
this nothing shall be betrayed, for when a 
faithful father and a loving child talk thus 
together, talk for their whole lives, our 
Lord himself is with them, and it is not 
for the world, ’tis for the two alone. 

Down-stairs, in the Frau Pastorin’s liv- 
ing-room, it was quite different. Frau 
Pastorin sat in her arm-chair, and cried 
bitterly; the dear, good Frau was quite 

* Mignonfs song: “ Toor child, what have they 
done to thee? ” 


beside herself, — Habermann’s misfortune 
had moved her deeply, — but when she 
must rouse this fearful conflict in the 
breast of her dear child, when she saw the 
struggle going on, and afterwards saw 
confidence and courage getting the mas- 
tery in that dear heart, in spite of wounds 
and sorrow, she felt as if she had malicious- 
ly destroyed the happiness of her child, 
and her poor heart was torn with self- 
reproach and sorrow and compassion, till 
she broke out into bitter weeping. Brasig, 
on the contrary, had used up his compas- 
sion, he had done his utmost, when with 
Habermann, to keep back his wrath 
against the wretchedness of mankind, aud 
when he came down to the Frau Pastorin, 
and, in the darkness, was not aware of her 
distress, he broke loose : 

“ Infamous pack of Jesuits ! What ? 
Such a man as Karl Habermann, would 
you destroy his honor and reputation? It 
is like Satan himself! It is as if one held 
the cat, and the other stabbed it. Curses 
on them ” 

“ Brasig, Br'asig, I beseech you,” cried 
the little Frau Pastorin, “ stop this un- 
christian behavior ! ” 

“ Do you call that unchristian behavior ? 
It seems to me like a song of the holy 
angels in Paradise, if I compare it with 
the scurvy tricks of this pack of Jesuits ” 

“Brasig, we are not the judges of these 
people.” 

“I know very well, Frau Pastorin, I am 
not the magistrate, and you are not in the 
judge’s chair, but when a toad hops across 
my path, you cannot expect me to look 
upon it as a beautiful canary bird. No, 
Frau Pastorin, toads are toads, and Za- 
mel Pomuchelskopp is the chief toad, who 
has spit his venom upon us all. What do 
you say to his chicanery that he has con- 
trived against me ? You see, in the one 
foot-path, which has led to the pastor’s 
acre, for this thousand years, so far as I 
know, he has had a stake put up, so that 
we cannot go there, and he sent word to 
me that if I went there, he would have my 
boots pulled off, and let me go hopping 
about in the snow, like a crow. Do you 
call that a Christian disposition ? But I 
will complain of him. Shall such a fellow 
as that liken me to a crow ? And Pastor 
Gottlieb must complain of him. How can 
he forbid him the foot-path ? And young 
Jochen must complain of him, for he has 
said openly, young Jochen was an old 
blockhead, and young Jochen is not 
obliged to put up with that. And you 
mnst complain of him, because he would 
not build a widow-house, since all the 


188 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


people have told me there must be Acts 
about it. And Karl Habermann must 
complain of the young Herr. We must 
organize revolution against the Jesuits, 
and if I can have my way, we will all drive 
to-morrow, in a carryall, to Gustrow, to 
the court of justice, and complain of the 
whole company, and we will take along 
five advocates, so that each may have one, 
and then, hurrah for a lawsuit ! ” 

If he ha I known that Louise had suf- 
fered mosl from the Jesuits, he might 
have prop<* led taking another advocate 
for her ; but as yet, he had no suspicion 
of her troubles. Frau Pastorin tried to 
pacify him, but it was not an easy task, 
he wanted to turn everything topsy-turvy, 
and' the misfortunes of his old friend had 
so agitated his heart, that the trpubles 
which usually lay in its depths, the farm- 
boy angers, and the card-playing vexa- 
^ tions, all came to the surface. “ I came 
over here,” said he, “ to amuse myself, since 
it was club-day, and to win back my three 
thalers from that old toad of an evil-doer, 
that Kurz, which he got out of me with 
his infamous cheating, and now the devil 
must hold his confounded spy-glass before 
my eyes, and bring all the wickedness of 
the world right into the neighborhood. 
Well, I call that amusing ! And Frau 
Pastorin, if you don’t think ill of it, I 
might spend the night here with you, for 
this stupid game of Boston will come to 
nothing, and it would be a good thing for 
me to sleep with Karl, because he needs 
somebody to cheer him up.” 

Frau Pastorin said she should be glad 
to have him stay, and the evening was 
spent in maledictions on his side, and/ efforts 
at pacification upon hers. Habermann and 
Louise did not appear, and when Briisig 
went up to his old friend, Louise was no 
longer there. 

The next morning Brasig took leave of 
his old friend, with these words : 

Yely upon it, Karl, I will drive to 
Pumpelhagen, myself, and look after your 
affairs. You shall get everything, though 
it makes me creep all over, to cross a 
threshold where you have been thrust out 
so infamously.” 

The same morning, Habermann sat 
down and wrote to Franz ; he told him 
truly and circumstantially what had hap- 
pened lately in Pumpelhagen, he wrote of 
the dreadful conclusion the matter had 
arrived at, and informed him of the shame- 
ful suspicions which had fallen upon him, 
and finished with the statement that he 
and his child were of one mind, they must 
refuse his offer. He wanted to write 


warmly and heartily of the friendship 
which he felt for the young man, but he 
could not speak freely, as before, he 
seemed constrained. At last he begged 
him earnestly, to leave him and his child 
to themselves ; they two must bear their 
fate, alone. 

Louise wrote also, and when, towards 
evening, the Frau Pastorin’s maid took 
the letter to the post, she stood at the 
window, and looked after her, as if she 
had taken leave of her dearest friend in 
the world forever. She looked at the sun, 
which ^as going down in the west, and 
murmured, “ My dying eyes shall look to 
thee, thou goal of my desires.” But she 
did not turn red as yesterday, she stood 
there pale, and, as the last rays of the sun 
disappeared behind the houses, a deep 
sigh rose from her oppressed heart, and as 
she turned away bitter tears flowed down 
her pale cheeks. The tears flowed not for 
her lost happiness, no, for his. 

As Brasig came to the parsonage, the 
young Frau Pastorin met him at the door ; 
“ God bless you, Uncle Brasig, I am glad 
you have come here, — no, not here, in 
Pumpelhagen there are dreadful stories. 
Dr. Strump has been here, — our Jura 
was taken sick suddenly, last night, he 
was delirious, — and I ran for the doctor, 
who had been at Pumpelhagen, to speak 
to him as he passed through the village, — 
and he told me dreadful things, — not he, 
properly speaking, he only let himself be 
questioned, but his coachman told me that 
— ah, come in, it blows so out here ! ” and 
she drew him into the house. Here she 
told him all that the people said, that her 
dear Uncle Habermann had shot Axel, and 
had gone off, nobody knew where, but 
probably to take his own life. Briisig com- 
forted her with news that Habermann was 
aliv6, and told her about the shooting, then 
inquired how it was with the young°Herr, 
and learned that Dr. Strump did not think 
it a dangerous case. He then went to see 
Jura, who apparently had an attack of 
pneumonia. By this, time, it was noon, 
and he must pursue his journey to Pum- 
pelhagen, to attend to Habermann’s affairs, 
and must also look out for another coach- 
man. He inquired about in the village, 
but nobody would go to drive, and help 
him to load the goods ; one had this, an- 
other that excuse, and finally he resolved 
to play coachman himself, when old Ruhr- 
danz, the weaver, said, “ Well, it is all one 
to me, what he says to it ; if he wants to 
chicane me, he may. I will drive you, 
Herr Inspector.” 

Brasig made no objections, b/eing very 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


189 


glad to find some one to help him with the 
loading, and they drove off. 

“ Ruhrdanz,” asked Briisig, “ what did 
you mean by chicaning? ” 

“ Why, Herr, he has forbidden us all to 
do anything for the folks at the parsonage ; 
we must not even take a step for them/’ 

“ Who has forbidden you V ” 

“ Eh, lie , our Herr Pomuchelskopp.” 

“Infamous Jesuit ! ” said Briisig to him- 
self. 

“ If we did so, he told us, we might 
fodder our cows next winter on sawdust, 
he wouldn’t give us a handful of hay or 
straw, and we might build with bricks, for 
he would give us no wood or turf.” 

Brasig turned dark with anger, but the 
old man was fairly launched, and went on, 
under full sail : 

“ And we must be always ready for him, 
night or day. I was out for him, the 
whole holiday, and got home last night, at 
ten o’clock.” 

“ Where did you go ? ” 

“Eh, to Ludswigslust, to the old rail- 
road.” 

“ What had you to do there.” 

“ Eh, I had nothing to do there.” 

“ But you must have had business 
there.” 

“Why, yes, I had business; but it came 
to nothing, for he had no papers.” 

“ Well, what was it, then ? ” 

“ You see, he sent down from the Court, 
I should drive a ram down to the old rail- 
road ; well, I did so, and we got there all 
right. There was a fellow standing at 
the station ; he let me pass, and I said to 
him, ‘Good morning,’ says I, ‘here he is.’ 
‘Who?’ he asked. ‘The ram,’ says I. 
‘What of him?’ says he. ‘Well, I don’t 
know,’ says I. ‘Has he any papers?’ 
asked he. ‘No,’ says, I, ‘he hasn’t any 
papers.’ ‘ Blockhead,’ says he, ‘ I asked if 
he * had any papers.’ ‘No,’ says I, ‘ I told 
you before, the ram has no papers.’ 
‘ Thunder and lightning ! ’ says he, ‘ I asked 
if he himself had any papers.’ ‘ What ? ’ 
says I, ‘ if .1 ? What do I want of papers ? 
I was to deliver him here.’ You see, the 
fellow was undecided, and first he turned 
me out, and then he put out the old ram 
after me, and there we both stood by 
the train. Huiiiii ! said the old thing, 
and then it went off, and we stood there, 
he had no papers, and I had no papers, 
and what should I do about it ? I loaded 
him in again, and drove back home. And 
when I went up to the house, last evening, 

* The third person singular is used in addressing 
inferiors. “ Hat Hei kein Pappiren.” 


there was a great uproar, and I thought 
our Herr would eat me up, he flew at me 
so. But what did I know? If he must 
have papers, he should have given them to 
somebody. But so much I know, if our 
Herr were not such a great Herr, and if 
he hadn’t such a stiff backbone, and if we 
all held together, we would try a tussle 
with him. And his old Register of a wife 
is a thousand times worse than himself. 
Didn’t she beat my neighbor Kapphing- 
sten’s girl half dead, last spring? She 
beat the girl three times with a broom- 
stick, and shut her up in the shed, and 
starved her, and why? Because a hawk 
had carried off a chicken. Was it her 
fault that the hawk carried off the chicken, 
and was it my fault that he had given me 
no papers ? ” 

Briisig listened to all this, and, though 
yesterday he wanted to start a revolution 
against Pomuchelskopp, to day he kept 
perfectly still, for he would never have 
forgiven himself, if he had, by a thought- 
less word, excited the people against their 
master. 

They came to Pumpelhagen, and drove 
up to the farm-house door. With a great 
leap, Fritz Triddelsitz came out of the 
house to Briisig : “ Herr Inspector, Herr 
Inspector 1 I truly could not help it, Marie 
Moller packed the book up, through an 
oversight, and when I went to change 
my clothes, in Demmin, there was the 
book.” 

“ What book ? ” asked Brasig hastily. 

“ Good gracious ! Habermann’s book, 
that all this uproar has been about.” 

“ And that book,” said Brasig, catching 
Fritz by the collar, and shaking him, till 
his teeth chattered in his head, “ you in- 
famous greyhound, did you take that book 
to Demmin with you ? ” and he gave him 
a push towards the door : “ In with you ! 
Bring me the book I ” 

With fear and trembling, Fritz brouar 1 ^ 
out the book ; Brasig snatched it from wB 
hand. “ Infamous greyhound ! Do you 
know what you have done ? The man 
who in his kindness and love has tried to 
make a man of you, who has covered all 
your stupidities with a silken mantle, you 
have ruined, you have brought into this 
shameful quarrel.” 

“ Herr Inspector, Herr Inspector ! ” cried 
Fritz, deadly pale, “ Oh, Lord ! it wasn’t 
my fault, Marie Moller packed up the 
book, and I rode from Demmin to-day, in 
two hours, to bring it back again as soon 
as possible.” 

“ Marie Moller ! ” cried Brasig, what 
have you to do with Marie Moller ? Oh, 


190 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


ff I were your Herr Father, or your Frau 
Mother, or even your Frau Aunt, I would 
lash you till you ran like a squirrel along 
the wall. What have you to do with 
that old goose of a Marie Moller ? And 
do you think to make up for your stupidity 
by gallopping over the public road ? Shall 
the innocent beast suffer for your fault? 
But come now, come before the board! 
Come before the judgment seat, to the 
gracious Frau! You shall tell her how 
it has all happened, and then you can go 
and parade with Marie Moller.” 

And with that, he went off, and Fritz 
followed slowly behind, his heart full of 
misgivings. 

“ Announce me, with the young man, to 
the gracious Frau,” said Brasig, to Daniel 
Sadenwater, when they came to the porch, 
and he pointed to Fritz. Daniel made a j 
sort of half-grown bow, and went. Fritz 
stood there, like butter in the sun, making 
a face, which came very readily to him, 
since his days at Parchen, because he used . 
to make it when there was a conference J 
of teachers, and his misdeeds came up for , 
judgment. Brasig stood bent up in the j 
corner, with the book under his arm, and 
tugged alternately at his left and right 
boot-straps, that his yellow tops might ' 
appear to the best advantage. When the 
gracious Frau came, and went into the 
living-room, he followed her, quite red 
from the stooping and his excitement, and 
Fritz, very pale, went in behind him. 

“ You wished to speak to me, Herr In- 
spector?” asked the young Frau, looking 
now at Brasig, and now at Triddelsitz. 

“ Yes, gracious Frau, but I would first 
beg you graciously to hear what this 
apothecary’s son, this — infamous grey- 
hound, ” — he was going to say, but 
restrained himself — “ young man has to 
say, he has a fine story to tell you.” 

The young Frau turned a questioning 
glance upon Fritz, and the old fellow be- 
gan to stammer out his story, growing 
first red, and then pale, and told it pretty 
much as it happened, only that he left out 
Marie Moller’s name, ending with, “ And 
so the book came, by an oversight, into 
my travelling bag.” 

“ Out with Marie Moller ! ” cried Brasig, 
il the truth must finally come to light ! ” 

“Yes,” said Fritz, “Marie Moller 
packed it up ; I had so much to do that 
day.” 

The young Frau was greatly disturbed. 
“ So it was all only an unhappy acci- 
dent ? ” 

“Yes, gracious Frau, it was so,” said 
Brasig, “ and here is the book, and here, 


; on the last page, is Habermann’s account, 
and there are four hundred thalers due 
| him, beside his salary, and it is right, 
and balances, for Karl Habermann never 
makes mistakes, and when we were boys 
he used to excel me myself, in the accuracy 
of his reckoning.” 

The young Frau took the book with 
trembling hand, and as she, without think- 
ing of it, noticed the sum total on the last 
page, the thought shot confusedly through 
her mind, Habermann was innocent of this 
charge, why not of the other, in which 
she had never * believed ? Fritz’s story 
could not be an invention, and she had 
done the man the bitterest injustice ; but 
he had shot her husband! In that, she 
found a sort of excuse, and she said, “ But 
for God’s sake, how could he shoot at 
Axel ? ” 

“ Gracious Frau,” said Brasig, raising 
his eyebrows very high, and putting on 
•his most serious expression, “with your 
favor, those are abominable lies ; the 
young Herr took aim at him, and as 
Habermann was trying to wrest the gun 
from him, it went off, and that is the 
whole truth, and I know all about it, 
because he told me himself, and he never 
lies.” 

Dear heart, she knew that, and she knew 
also, that so much could not be said of her 
husband ; at the first, in his first excite- 
ment, he had said, “ He is not a murderer,” 
but since then, he had constantly affirmed 
that Habermann had shot him. She sat 
down, and laid her hand over her eyes, 
and tried to take counsel with herself ; but 
it was of no use; she collected herself 
with an effort, and said, “ You have come, 
I suppose, to receive the money for the 
inspector; my husband is suffering, I 
cannot disturb him now, but I will send 
it.” 

“ No, gracious Frau, I did not come for 
that,” said Brasig, drawing himself up, 
“ I came here to tell the truth, I came here 
to defend my old friend, who was my play- 
mate sixty years ago.” 

“You have no need to do that, if your 
friend has a good conscience, and I believe 
he has.” 

“I see, by this remark, gracious Frau, 
that you know human nature very poorly. 
Man has two consciences, the one inside 
of him, and that no devil can take from 
him, but the other is outside of him, and 
j that is his good name, and that any scamp 
may take from him, if he has the power, 
j and is clever enough, and can kill him 
j before the world, for man lives not for 
himself alone, he lives also for the world. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


191 


And these wicked rumors are like the 
thistles, that the devil and his servants 
sow in our fields, they stand there, and 
the better the soil is the bigger they grow, 
and they blossom and go to seed, and 
when the top is ripe, then comes the 
wind, — no man knows whence it cometh 
or whither it goeth, — and it carries the 
down from the thistle-top all over the 
field, and next year the whole field is full 
of them, and men stand there and scold, 
but no one will take hold and pull up the 
weeds, for fear of getting his fingers 
pricked. And you, gracious Frau, have 
also been afraid of pricking your fingers, 
when you let my old friend be driven out 
of your house, as a traitor and a thief, and 
I wanted to tell you that, and to tell you 
that that hurt my Karl Habermann the 
worst of all. And now farewell ! I have 
nothing more to say.” With that, he left 
the room, and Fritz followed him. 

And Frida? Where was the bright 
young wife with her clear eyes and sound 
understanding, who looked at everthing so 
sensibly and quietly ? This was not the 
same woman, the cool, intelligent compos- 
ure had changed to restless agitation, and 
before the clear eyes lay a shadow,, which 
hindered her from looking about her. 
“ Ah,” she exclaimed, “ untrue again ! All 
these suspicions are merely the progeny of 
lies, of self-deception and the most un- 
manly weakness 1 And my distress for 
him, my love for him, must make me a 
sharer in his wrong, I must give a deadly 
wound to this honest heart that loved me 
so truly 1 But I will tell him 1 ” — she 
sprang up, — “ I will tear away this web of 
lies 1 ” but she sank down again, in weak- 
ness ; “ no, not yet ; I cannot ; he is too 
ill.” Ah, she was right; insincerity and 
falsehood surround in a wide circle even 
the most upright heart, and come nearer 
and nearer, and draw it into the whirlpool, 
till it no longer knows whether it is out 
or in, when cool composure is lost, and 
considerate thought is absorbed in fear or 
hope. 

When Brasig came to his wagon, Ruhr- 
danz, with the help of Krischan Dasel and 
others, had packed nearly all the goods, 
and what was left soon found a place. 
Brasig was getting into the wagon by 
Ruhrdanz, when Fritz Triddelsitz held him 
fast : “ Herr Inspector, I beg of you, tell 
Herr Habermann that I am innocent, that 
I couldn’t help it.” 

Brasig would have made no answer, but 
when he saw Fritz’s sorrowful face, he 
pitied him, and said, “ Yes, I will tell him ; 
but you must reform.” Then he drove off. 


“ Herr Inspector,” said Ruhrdanz, after 
a little while, “ it is none of my business, 
and perhaps I should not speak of it ; but 
who would have thought it — I mean 
about Herr Habermann.” 

“ What do you mean ? ” 

“ Oh, nothing, — I only mean that he 
should go off so suddenly, and then this 
shooting.” 

“ Eh, that is all stuff and nonsense,” 
said Brasig, in vexation. 

“ So I said, Herr Inspector ; but the 
groom Krischan, he stood there, as we 
were packing, and he said that the whole 
disturbance came from the confounded 
papers, because Herr Habermann had no 
regular papers to show. Yes, so I say, the 
confounded papers ! ” 

“ Habermann’s papers are all right.” 

“ Yes, so I say, Herr Inspector, but 
about the shooting I Our young Herr 
Gustaving was telling about it this morn- 
ing, all over the village.” 

“ Gustaving,” cried Brasig in his wrath, 
“ is a rascal of a puppy 1 a puppy who 
has not yet got his eyes open.” 

“ So I say, and don’t take it evil of me, 
Herr Inspector ; but he is the best of the 
lot, up at the Court. For, you see, there 
is the old — well, Orndt’s nephew was 
here last week, and he came from Prussia 
to Anclam, and he said that our Herr al- 
ways had human skin on his stick, he 
banged the people about so ; but the 
Prussians wouldn’t put up with him, and 
the people went to the Landgrafenamt, or 
to the Landrathenamt, — I don’t know 
what the old thing is called, — and com- 
plained of him, and the Landgraf turned 
him out in disgrace. I wish we had such 
a Landgraf in our neighbourhood, for the 
court of justice is too far off.” 

“ Yes,” said Brasig hastily, “ if you had 
such a Landrath as that, you would have 
something rare.” 

“ So I say, Herr Inspector, but once he 
went rather too far, for lie beat a woman 
who was in the family way, and injured 
her severely, and, you won’t take it ill of 
me, Herr Inspector, but I think that was a 
great crime. Then they complained of 
him to the king, and* he commanded that 
he should be imprisoned in Stettin for 
life, and drag balls after him. Well, then, 
his old woman went to the king, and fell 
down on her knees to him, and the king 
let him out, on condition that he should 
wear an iron ring round his neck, all his 
life long, and every autumn he should drag 
balls, for four weeks, in Stettin, — he was 
there this last autumn, — and that he 
should leave the country ; and so he came 


192 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


here ; but now tell me, Herr Inspector, if 
he should be driven away from here, where 
could he go ? ” 

“Where the pepper grows, for all I 
care,” said Brasig. 

“ Yes, so I say, Herr Inspector ; but 
don’t take it ill of me, I don’t believe they 
would take him there; for, you see, he 
has money enough to buy a place, but 
how about his papers? For when the 
king comes to see his papers, and he reads 
that he must wear an iron ring on his neck, 
and that that is the reason he always 
wears such a great thick neck-cloth, then 
they will have nothing to do with him.” 

“ Eh, then you will have to keep him,” 
said Brasig. 

“Well, if there is no other way, then 


I we must keep him ; he is, so to speak, 
married to us. Get up 1 ” he cried, and 
drove at a trot, through Gurlitz ; and Bra- 
sig fell into deep thought. How strangely 
things went in the world ! Such a fellow, 
who had such a reputation, was yet in cir- 
cumstances to ruin an honest man’s good 
name ; for he was quite certain that Pomu- 
chelskopp was at the bottom of all the 
stories, and that he had taken pains to set 
them in circulation was evident from Gus- 
taving’s share in the matter. 

“ It is scandalous,” he said to himself, as 
he got down, in Rahnstadt, at the Frau 
Pastorin’s, “ but take care, Zamel ! I have 
taken one trick from you, with the pas- 
tor’s acre, I shall get another ; but first I 
must complain of you, about the ‘ crow I ’ ” 


« 


> 




SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


193 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

New-Year’s day, 1846, had come, and 
brought its kind wishes, and the Rahn- 
stadters congratulated each other, in the 
cold streets, or in the warm parlors, just 
as it happened, and some people slept un- 
til noon, and ate pickled herrings, because 
it was Sylvester’s eve, and there was 
much talk among the young people of this 
and that, which had happened at the ball, 
yesterday, and the old folks sat together, 
and talked of what had happened, not 
indeed at the ball, but in the world. And 
the story of Habermann and Herr von 
Rambow was a chief dish, which was 
served up at all tables ; and as every 
house had its own cookery, so it had also 
its own gossip, one believed the story so, 
and another so, and each suited it to his 
own palate, and invited his neighbor as 
guest, and Slusuhr and David went every- 
where, as unbidden guests, and the one 
added his pepper, and the other his garlic 
to the dish. And so, for the city of 
Rahnstadt and the region round about the 
story and the slander became richer in its 
progress, as each seasoned it with his 
favorite spice : Habermann had for years 
been cheating his two masters, and had 
accumulated a great pile of money, which 
was the reason why the young Herr von 
Rambow was always in pecuniary embar- 
rassment ; he had gone halves with the 
day-laborer Regel, in his robbery, and had 
helped him off and given him a recommend- 
ation. Whether Jochen Nussler had as- 
sisted in the conspiracy, people were not 
definitely informed. But at last the 
apothecary Triddelsitz’s son, who was 
an uncommonly wideawake and discreet 
young man, had come upon the track, by 
secretly examining Habermann’s books, in 
which he discovered the whole imposition, 
word for word. He had told it to the 
housekeeper, Marie Moller, and they both 
agreed that Triddelsitz must take the 
book till Habermann had gone, and the 
considerate young man did so, and carried 
it with him to Demmin, intending to de- 
liver it afterwards to Herr von Rambow. 
But, the next day, Habermann had missed 
the book, and was persuaded that Herr 
von Rambow had taken it, so he went to 
him, a^nd told him he was a rascal, and 
demanded his book again, and when the 
young Herr could not give it him, he 
aimed a rifle at his breast. The young 
Herr would not bear that, and grappled 
with him for the rifle, and it went off, and 
the Herr von Rambow was now lying at 
the point of death. Habermann was 
13 


doubtless in concealment, somewhere in the 
city. This was pretty nearly the story 
which the Rahnstadters had pieced togeth- 
er, and everybody wondered that the 
burgomeister did not have such a danger- 
ous man put in prison. 

There were, fortunately, two intelligent 
beings in the city, who would not bite at 
the story ; one was Moses, who, when 
David told him of the affair, said merely, 
“ David, you are too stupid 1 ” and went 
about his business, the other was the 
burgomeister himself, who shook his head, 
and also went about his business. The 
Rector Baldrian did not go about his busi- 
ness, for he had a vacation, and he said 
if the whole city said so there must be 
something in it, but so much he would say, 
and he would go to the sacrament upon it, 
his Gottlieb’s father-in-law, Jochen Nussler, 
was not in the conspiracy. Kurz said it 
was possible, but he would never have 
suspected it of old Habermann; but no 
one could read the heart of another. 
Meanwhile, he must say, one thing seemed 
to him improbable, that Fritz Triddelsitz 
could have acted with much discretion, 
and he believed that part of the business 
must have happened differently. Just for 
the reason that his Fritz had distinguished 
himself, the apothecary believed in the 
story, and told it all over the city, that he 
might increase his dear son’s celebrity. 

And so strangely does destiny play with 
us. At this very moment when Fritz’s 
renown was spread through the whole 
city, he himself stood before that dreadful 
criminal, Habermann, in the guise of a 
penitent sinner, begging him earnestly to 
forgive his share in the trouble, he had not 
done it intentionally. Habermann stroked 
his chestnut hair, and said, “ Let it go, 
Triddelsitz ! But notice one thing ; many 
a good action has evil consequences in the 
world, and many an evil one has good; 
but we are not responsible for the conse- 
quences, those lie in other hands, and the 
consequences do not make an action either 
good or bad. If you had not done wrong, 
in deceiving me about your grain-account, 
your conscience would not trouble you, 
and you need not have stood before 
me thus. But I forgive you; and now 
take the receipt for the money, and be 
a good, steady fellow! And now, good- 
bye ! ” 

He gave him a receipt, for the gracious 
Frau had sent him his salary, and the 
money he had paid out, by Fritz. 

Fritz went to the inn, when he had left 
his horse. Their were many people there, 
and they flocked around him: “Well, 


194 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


how is it ? You did that well ! ” “Is the 
Herr von Rainbow dangerously hurt ? ” 
“ Then he is still living ! ” “ Do let Herr 

Triddelsitz speak ! ” “ Just tell us ” 

“No, just tell us, have you got Haber- 
mann ? ” 

Fritz was in no mood for narration, he 
had no desire to expose his own stupidity ; 
he pushed through the crowd, with a few 
general remarks, and mounted his horse, 
and the Rahnstadters said, with one 
accord, he was a very discreet young man, 
he would not sound his own praises. 

If the Rahnstadters gathered about 
Fritz, in their curiosity, as if he were a 
bottle of syrup, and they the flies, they 
were to have a still richer treat ; this New- 
year’s day was to be a real news-day. 
Scarcely had Fritz, outwardly so proud 
and reserved, inwardly so dejected and 
penitent, ridden away from the door, when 
a carriage drove up to the inn, — the gen- 
tleman driving himself, and the coachman 
sitting behind, — and the Rahnstadters 
flattened their noses against the window 
panes ; who could that be ? “ He looks 
wonderfully familiar to me,” said one. 
“ Yes, I have surely seen him before,” said 

another. “ Is it not ” began a third. 

“Eh, what? No, it is’nt the one you 
think,” said Bank, the shoemaker. “ I 
know hirn,” said Wimmersdorf, the tailor, 
“ I have made him nany a coat, that is the 
Herr von Rambow who lives beyond 
Schwerin, at Hogen-Selchow, the cousin 
of the Pumpelhagen Herr.” “ The tailor 
is right, it is he.” “Yes, it is he.” 
“ Probably he comes on aecount of this 
story.” “ That must be it, for the Pum- 
pelhagen Herr lies so low, he can attend 
to nothing. You shall see, he will take 
the business in hand.” And as Franz 
came in to lay off his furs, the Rahnstadt- 
ers all stood with their backs against the 
windows, with their backs against the 
stove, with their backs against the walls, 
and all looked to the middle of the room, 
where Franz stood, as it were, surrounded 
by a web of curiosity, from which all the 
threads ran to the middle, where he was 
caught, like a helpless fly. 

Franz went out, spoke a couple of words 
to the servant, and went off* towards the 
market. “Johann,” asked one from the 
window, “ what did he say to you ? ” “ Ah,” 
said Johann, “he only asked after the bur- 
gomeister, if he was at home.” “ Did you 
hear ? he asked after the burgomeister ; 
he is going to work in earnest.” “ Jo- 
hann,” said another, “ did he say nothing 
else ? ” “ Yes, he asked where the parson’s 
wife lived, who has moved here lately, 


near Kurz the shopkeeper.” “ Ha, ha I 
Do you notice that ? The inspector is 
probably stowed away, with the parson’s 
wife. Well, good-bye.” 

“ Gossip Wimmersdorf, where are you 
going ? ” “ Oh, I shall drop in at Kurz’s.” 
“ Wait, I will go too.” “ That is so,” said 
another, “ at Kurz’s, we can see every- 
thing finely.” “ Yes, let us go to Kurz’s,” 
and it was not long before Kurz’s shop 
was fuller of customers than he had seen 
it for a long time, and every one took a 
dram, and some two, and Kurz said to 
himself, “ Thank God ! the new year be- 
gins finely.” 

After a while, Franz came back from 
the market, and went past Kurz’s shop, 
directly up to the Frau Pastorin’s door. 

“How? He has no policeman with 
him ! ” said one. 

“ Yes, Iloppner is not at home, he has 
gone to get a pig to-day, from the farmer 
at Prebberow.” 

“ Oh, that is all right, then.” 

“ How Habermann will feel, when he 
finds himself caught ! ” said AVimmersdorf. 

“ Children, my feet are getting cold,” 
said Bank, the shoemaker, “I am going 
home.” 

“ What ? You may as well wait till the 
business comes to a head,” said Thiel, the 
cabinet-maker. 

“ What do you know about it ? ” said 
Bank. “ It seems to me as if there was’nt 
a word of truth in the whole story.” 

“ What ? You told me the story, your- 
self, this morning,” said Thiel. 

“ Yes, that is so, but morning talk is not 
evening talk. I have considered the mat- 
ter since then.” 

“ That is to say, you have got cold feet 
over it,” said the tailor. All laughed. 

“ That is a stupid joke,” said the shoe- 
maker, “ and the whole story is a stupid 
joke ; the old inspector has traded with me 
all these years, and has always paid his ac- 
counts honestly, and is he likely, in his old 
age, to take to cheating and stealing ? ” 

“ Eh, you may talk ! But when the 
whole city says so ? ” 

“ Eh, the whole city ! Here stands Herr 
Kurz, ask him if he has’nt always paid 
honestly ! Ask the man what he says to 
it ! ” 

“ What I say to it ? I say nothing,” 
said Kurz, “ but I don’t believe it, and I 
have my own reasons.” 

“ There, do you hear ? ” 

“ Yes, it may possibly be so.” 

“ Yes, I said, all along, the matter looked 
very strange to me.” 

“ Well,” said AVimmersdorf, “ he never 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


195 


traded with me, and I don’t see why I 
should’nt believe it.” 

“ Eh, tailor, don’t let yourself be laughed 
at!” 

“ Yes, children, laugh at the tailor ! ” 

“ Now, I will tell you something,” said 
Bank, smiting with his fist on the counter. 
“ Come here, all of you, — Herr Kurz, fill 
the glasses once more 1 Now let us all 
drink to our brave, old, honest inspector ! ” 

And they did so, and went home with a 
stronger belief than ever in Habermann, 
and with all of them, except Wimmers- 
dorf the tailor, the old man was reinstated 
in his good name. Why ? Because Bank 
the shoemaker had cold feet. 

Upon such little things often depends 
good or evil opinion. Here, the good 
prevailed; but what availed the good 
opinion of a few insignificant mechanics 
against that secret, invisible power which 
determined the fate of the children of 
men in this little city, and held the en- 
tangled threads of happiness and misery 
in its hand, and pulls them, so that one 
must dance on the string, at its will ? I 
mean that secret tribunal which the wo- 
men folks hold, in the quiet evening hours, 
to the terror of all evil-doers, over their 
knitting and tea. There, every sinner 
gets his deserts, he is pricked with the 
knitting-needles, pinched with the sugar- 
tongs, burned in the spirit-lamp, and every 
biscuit or musch iiken * soaked in the tea- 
cups gives a faithful picture of the condi- 
tion of his terrified soul, if he were stand- 
ing before this tribunal. What did this 
Rahnstadt Female Assembly care for 
Hans Bank’s good opinion, or his cold 
feet? What for Ilabermann’s well-paid 
accounts? These judges went seriously 
to work; they first took account, in an 
intelligent manner, of the antecedents, — 
as jurists say, — and they found the case 
very weak, for Habermann, for Louise, for 
the Frau Pastorin, even for Brasig. Mal- 
chen and Salchen Pomuchelskopp had cir- 
culated all the particulars, here a little drop 
and there a little drop, Salchen had gath- 
ered those precious pearls together, and ar- 
ranged them in proper order, and even 
David had helped a little, and so the Fe- 
male Assembly had a very correct repre- 
sentation of Franz’s attachment to Louise, 
of Habfermann’s and the Frau Pastorin’s 
match-making, and of Brasig’s scandalous 
tale-bearing, which they were qualified to 
make use of, in the best possible manner. 

The preliminaries had just been dis- 

* Muschuken, from Monsieur, is a kind of Meck- 
lenburg biscuit. 


posed of, when the wife of the city Syn- 
dic, (Recorder,) and the merchant’s wife, 
Madam Krummhorn, came in together, and 
received a friendly scolding from the host- 
ess, because they were so late. They de- 
fended themselves, in rather a condescend- 
ing way, saying nothing of importance, 
but they sat down with such a swing, and 
took out their knitting with such signifi- 
cant shaking of heads, that the high tribu- 
nal must have been excessively stupid, if 
it had not observed that they had some- 
thing special on their minds. It did its 
duty, beginning to feel round, by degrees, 
but the Frau Syndic and the Frau Krumm- 
horn were prepared for resistance, and 
pinched their lips together, like live 
oysters, and the knives applied by the high 
tribunal were not successful in opening 
the shells. With sighs, the assembly took 
up its knitting-work, and soaked a couple 
of fresh muschuken in its tea, and with 
horror the two oysters became aware that 
their fast-locked news was stale, and that 
the best juice had run out from it ; they 
opened, therefore, of their own accord, 
and the Frau Syndic asked the burgomeis- 
terin, if a young gentleman had not 
called on the Herr Burgomeister that 
afternoon. Yes, said the Frau Burgo- 
meisterin, the cousin of Herr von Ram- 
bow had been to see her husband, they 
had just been speaking of it. 

“ And what did he want ? ” asked the 
Frau Syndic. 

“To inform himself how the examina- 
tion about the stolen money had resulted, 
and he also asked whether the stories in 
Pumpelhagen — you know, the shooting — 
had any connection with that affair.” 

“ And what else ? ” inquired Frau 
Syndic, looking down at her knitting. 

“My husband has told me nothing 
more,” said the burgomeisterin. 

“ And do you believe that? ” asked Frau 
Syndic. Now it is a shame, before any 
tribunal, especially before such as this, 
to expect it to believe any simple, natural 
story. The burgomeisterin felt the accu- 
sation, which wa3 implied in this question, 
and said sharply : 

“If you know it better, dear, tell it 
yourself.” 

One oyster looked at the other, and 
both laughed aloud. Well, when such a 
fat oyster — for the Frau Syndic was fat, 
and Frau Krummhorn was also well-to-do 

laughs so at another, it makes a great 

impression upon people, and as a natural 
consequence the company laid their knit- 
ting in their laps, and looked at the 
oysters. 


196 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


“ Good heavens ! ” cried the hostess, at 
last, “ what do you know ? ” 

“ Frau Krummhorn may tell,” said 
Frau Syndic, coolly. “ She saw it as well 
as I.” 

Frau Krummhorn was a good woman, 
she could relate well and skilfully ; but 
her gift of the gab had* one failing, it was 
like Protonotary Scharfer’s legs, — rud- 
derless; and just like the protonotary, she 
was obliged to call out to one and another, 
“ Hold me fast ! ” or “ Turn me round ! ” 
She began : “ Yes, he came right across 
the market-place.” 

“ Who ? ” asked a stupid little assess- 
or, who could not comprehend the busi- 
ness. 

“ Keep still ! ” cried everybody. 

“ So, he came right across the market- 
place. I knew him again directly, he had 
bought himself a new suit, of my husband, 
a black dress-coat, and blue trousers, eh, 
what do I say ! a blue dress-coat and 
black trousers : I can see him, as if it were 
yesterday, he always wore yellow-leather 
breeches and boot-tops, — or was that 
Fritz Triddelsitz ? I really am not quite 
sure. Yes, what was I saying ? ” 

“He came right across the market- 
place,” said a chorus of three voices. 

“ Exactly ! He came right across the 
market-place, and into the Frau Syndic’s 
street, I had just gone into Frau Syndic’s, 
for she wanted to show me her new cur- 
tains, they came from the Jew Hirsch’s, — 
no, I know, — the Jew B'aren’s, who has 
lately become bankrupt. It is remarka- 
ble, my husband says, how all our Jews 
become bankrupt, and yet grow richer all 
the time, no Christian merchant can com- 
pete with these confounded Jews. How 
far had I got ? ” 

“ He came into the Frau Syndic’s 
street.” 

“Ah, yes ! The Frau Syndic and I 
were standing at the window, and could 
look right into the parlor of the Frau 
Pastorin Behrens, and the Frau Syndic 
said her husband had told her, if the Frau 
Pastorin would go to law about it, — no, 
not the Frau Pastorin, it was the Church, 
or else the Consistory, — then Herr Po- 
muchelskopp, or somebody else, must 
build a new parsonage at Gurlitz, and the 
Frau Syndic ” 

But the Frau Syndic could contain her- 
self no longer, — in putting up Frau 
Krummhorn to tell the story, she had 
prepared a fine rod for her own impa- 
tience, so she interrupted her, without 
ceremony : 

“And then he went into the Frau Pas- 


torin’s and, without waiting, right into the 
parlor, and the old Frau rose from the 
sofa, and made such a motion of the hand, 
as if she would keep him away from her, 
and looked as distressed as if a misfortune 
had happened to her, and that might well 
be the case ; and then she placed a chair, 
and urged him to sit down ; but he did not 
sit down, and when the Frau Pastorin 
went out, he walked up and down the 
room, like — like ” 

“ Frau Syndic,” said Frau Krummhorn, 
“you repeated a fine couplet this after- 
noon.” 

“ Why, yes. ‘ King of deserts is the 
Lion, when he strides along his path.’ 
Well, he strode up and down like such a 
king of deserts, and when the old' in- 
spector and his daughter came in, he 
rushed up to them, with the bitterest re- 
proaches.” 

“But, good gracious!” said the little 
assessor, laying her knitting in her lap, 
“ could you hear, then ? ” 

“No, dear,” said Frau Syndic, laughing 
at the stupidity of the little assessor, “ we 
did not h Mr it ; but Frau Krummhorn and 
I both saw it, saw it with our own eyes. 
And the old inspector stood before him, 
like a poor sinner, and looked down, and 
let it all go over his head, and his daugh- 
ter threw her arm about his neck, as if she 
would protect him.” 

“Yes,” interrupted Frau Krummhorn, 
“it was just so, as when old Stahl, the 
cooper, was arrested, because he had stolen 
hoops. His daughter Marik sprang be- 
tween him and the policeman, Hoppner, 
and would not let her father be taken to 
the Rath-house, because of his white hair ; 
but he had stolen the hoops, I am sure of 
it, for I had him put three new hoops about 
my milk-pail, and my husband said it was 
all the same to us, whether they were stolen 
or not, and for the milk also, it would not 
turn sour, on account of the stolen hoops ; 
but I have noticed ” 

“Right, Frau Krummhorn,” said Frau 
Syndic, stopping her, “you noticed, also, 
how pale the girl looked, and how she trem- 
bled, when the young Herr turned to her, 
and released himself.” 

“ No,” said Frau Krummhorn, honestly, 

“ she looked pale, but I did not see that she 
trembled.” 

“ I saw it,” said the Frau Syndic, “ she 
trembled like that” shaking herself back 
and forth in her chair, as if it were a warm 
summer day, and she were shaking off the 
flies, — “ and he stood before her, like this,” 
— here she stood up — « ‘ The last link is 
broken,’ as my son, the student, sings, and 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


he looked at her so,” and here she looked 
so angrily at the little assessor, that the 
latter grew quite red, “ and then the old 
Frau Pastorin thrust herself between them, 
and tried to quiet her, and soothed him, 
and talked so much, and perhaps succeeded 
in a measure, for he gave them both the 
hand, at parting; but when he left the 
house, it was clearly to be read in his face, 
how glad he was that he had broken off 
with this company. Wasn’t it so, Frau 
Krummhorn ? ” 

“ I didn’t see that,” said the merchant’s 
wife, “I was looking at the young girl, how 
she stood with her arms crossed on her 
breast, and so pale. God bless me! I 
have seen pale girls enough, — only lately, 
my brother’s daughter, she has the pale 
sickness, and the doctor is always saying, 
‘ Iron ! iron ! ’ but she has iron enough, her 
father is a blacksmith. He might have 
been something very different, for our late 
father ” 

“Ah, the poor girl 'l ” cried the stupid 
little assessor, “ she is such a pretty girl. 
And the poor old man ! I cannot believe 
that, with his white hair, he has done such 
dreadful things.” 

“ Dear,” said the Frau Syndic, with a 
look at the little assessor, which, inter- 
preted into ordinary language, meant 
“ You goose ! ” — “ dear, be careful of such 
indiscriminate compassion, and beware 
how you associate with people who are 
connected with criminals.” 

“ Yes, he has done it,” went from mouth 
to mouth, from stocking to stocking, from 
cup to cup. The little assessor was si- 
lenced ; but all at once, a couple of gray, 
old, experienced advocates stood up for 
her, who usually in the tea-fights were re- 
tained as state-attorneys for the prosecu- 
tion, but, to-day, undertook the defense. 
They had looked at each other and nodded, 
during the Frau Syndic’s speech ; they 
would let her tell it all out quietly, and 
then they would free their minds. And 
the Frau Syndic had done a stupid thing, 
• she had forgotten the relationship, for the 
two old advocates were Frau Kurz, and 
Frau Rectorin Baldrian, and now was their 
time, and they took the Frau Syndic by 
the collar : 

“Dear, how do you know that Haber- 
mann is a criminal ? ” 

“ Darling, didn’t you know that Haber- 
mann is brother-in-law to my brother ? ” 

“ Dear, you should be careful of your 
sharp tongue.” 

“ Darling, you have often got into trouble 
on account of it.” 

So they shot each other, with “ Dear ” 


197 

and “ Darling,” back and forth across the 
table, and the tea-spoons clattered in the 
cups, and the cap-ribbons fluttered under 
the chins, the innocent knitting-work was 
bundled together, and stuffed into bags ; 
the F rau Burgomeisterin took sides with 
the two advocates, for she had not forgot- 
ten the Frau Syndic’s sharp words ; the 
hostess ran from one to another, and 
begged by all that was holy, they would 
not disgrace her so sadly, as to break out 
into such a quarrel at her tea, and the little 
assessor began to cry bitterly, for she be- 
lieved that she was the cause of the whole 
disturbance. But the mischief was done ; 
half went away, the other half stayed, and 
Rahnstadt was divided into two parties. 

And the people, about whom all the fuss 
was made, were sitting, if not peacefully, 
yet quietly, in their room, with no suspi- 
cion how much trouble and breaking of 
heads they had caused to their next neigh- 
bors, and how much strife and hatred. 
They had no idea that the stern look, 
which the Frau Syndic shot across the 
street from her red face signified anything 
to them, and the little Frau Pastorin re- 
marked more than once, “ From her looks 
the Frau Syndic must be a very deter- 
mined and energetic person, who would 
keep good order in her household.” And 
Louise had no suspicion that the pretty 
young girl, who went back and forth past 
their house, and cast many a stolen glance 
at her window, was filled to the depths of 
her heart with sympathy for her, and that 
this was the foolish little assessor, who had 
taken her part at the tea-fight. 

Ah no, these people had something quite 
different to think of, and to care about; 
Louise must keep her sick heart still, and 
conceal it from the world, that her father 
might not see its bleeding wounds, which 
the visit of Franz had torn open afresh ; 
Habermann was more quiet and pro- 
foundly thoughtful, after this visit than be- 
fore ; he had neither eyes nor thoughts 
for anything but his child. He sat lost in 
reflection, only, when his daughter looked 
paler and more absent-minded than usual, 
he would spring up, and run out into the 
little garden, and walk up and down, till 
he became composed. Ah, where was his 
hatred, when he saw his child’s love ! 
Where was his anger against the world, 
when, in the world nearest him, he saw 
only kindness and friendliness ? Hate and 
anger must disappear from such a heart; 
but sadness remained, and the most pitiful 
compassion, for the destiny of his only 
child. The little Frau Pastorin thought 
no longer of her duster, she had some- 


198 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


tiling else to care for than tables and 
chairs. She must clear away the rubbish 
from two hearts, which had grown fast to 
her own, and she polished away at them, 
with her efforts to comfort, till they should 
be bright and clear again : but her labor 
was in vain, at least with Habermann. 
The sinews of the old man’s strength were 
cut, with his good name, every joy and 
hope of life was gone, and the unwonted 
quiet and inaction made him more and 
more depressed, so that his case would 
have been a lamentable one, if the sweet 
voice of his child had not sometimes ban- 
ished the evil spirit, as the singing of the 
youthful David the evil spirit of King 
Saul. All that Franz had urged so im- 
pressively, that the chief difficulty was re- 
moved by the finding of the book, that he 
must know what a weak, inconsiderate 
creature his cousin Axel was, and that his 
judgment could not harm him, that he 
should believe in him, though all the world 
were against him, for he had another world 
in his own breast ; all this, which the Frau 
Pastorin repeated, he put aside, and re- 
mained firm in his resolve that, so long as 
his innocence was not fully established 
about the stolen money, so long his name 
was branded with disgrace, and he must 
hold back the young man, even against his 
will, that his own reputation might not be 
injured. 

This was now, seen by daylight, sheer 
nonsense, and many a one might here ask, 
with reason, Why did he not, with his 
good conscience, go freely and boldly be- 
fore the world, and scorn their lying ru- 
mors ? And I agree, the question is rea- 
sonable ; he should have done it, and he 
would have done it, if he had still been the 
old Habermann. But he was so no longer, 
through provocations, injuries and neglect, 
he had grown morbid, and now came this 
open accusation, and the dreadful scene 
with his master, and the young Frau had 
deserted him, for whom he would have 
given his life, and all this happened at a 
time when his heart had just opened to the 
hope of a happy future. The frosts of 
winter do no harm ; spring will yet come ; 
but when everything is fresh and growing, 
and the snow falls upon our green hopes, 
then there is snow and trouble, and all the 
little song-birds, who were building and 
pairing with the spring, are chilled and 
frozen in their nests, and the blighted 
groves are silent as death. The old man 
had prepared a great feast in his heart, 
and would welcome to it the fairest hopes, 
and now dark forms crowded in, and 
turned everything to confusion, and took 


away the only treasure, which he had laid 
up in his whole life ; that gave him a 
blow, from which he could not recover. 
Take away a miser’s treasure, which he has 
been scraping together for sixty years, and 
you take his life with it, and that is but a 
j treasure which rust can devour ; what is it 
to an honest name ? 

So the Frau Pastorin’s only comfort lay 
in the last words of Franz : he could wait, 
and he should come again. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

So Habermann kept himself to himself, 
and sat in his room, or went into the gar- 
den, when the Frau Pastorin had visitors ; 
and that was often the case, for one half 
J of Rahnstadt believed they were causing 
j great annoyance to the other half, who had 
put the Frau Pastorin’s house under the 
ban, if they visited her frequently. So it 
! came to pass, that the Rector Baldrian and 
j Kurz the merchant were continually drop- 
! ping in at the Frau Pastorin’s ; for their 
[ wives had discoursed to them so impress- 
ively, at home, over Habermann’s inno- 
| cence, that it was impossible for them to 
retain any doubt of it. From outside the 
i city, came young Jochen, and his wife, and 
| Mining, and also Pastor Gottlieb and 
Lining, often, of an afternoon ; but Briisig 
came at all times, and made the Frau Pas- 
torin’s house his dove-cote, where his inno- 
cent old heart flew in and out, with a crop 
full of news, which he had gathered in 
Rexow, and Pumpelhagen, and Gurlitz, for 
his old friend. He informed him that the 
earth was dry, — that is to say, the fields, 
— but he did not always bring the olive- 
branch in his beak; yffien the talk was 
about Pomuchelskopp and Axel, he let it 
fall, in his anger, and the dove became a 
veritable raven. He was not to be 
brought back, when he had flown away, 
and he told Habermann to his face he 
came to divert him to other thoughts, and 
if it did not please him, he did not take it 
ill ; but would come again the next day, 
with much to tell about the weather and 
the farming. 

And in the spring of 184:6, there was 
much to tell about these subjects. The 
winter had been warm and moist, and the 
spring came so early, that scarcely any one 
could remember the like ; in February the 
grass was green, and the winter wheat was 
up and the clover sprouting, and the 
ground was wonderfully dry, and the 
farmers went about, considering if it were 
not time to plant peas. k ‘ Karl,” said Br'a- 
sig, “ you shall see, it will be a pitiful story, 
the spring is too early, and when a bird 


199 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


sings too. soon in the morning, the cat 
catches him before night ; you shall see, 
we shall look sad enough, at the harvest. 
The devftk take such early springs 1 ” And 
on Palm-Sunday, he came into Haber- 
mann’s room, with an open rape-blossom 
in his hand, and laid it on the table before 
him. There, you see, it, is just as I told 
you ! I picked that from your rape in 
Pumpelhagen. You shall see, Karl, in a 
week the louis-d’ors will be out ; but it is 
of no good, full of bug3 from top to bot- 
tom.” 

“ Eh, Zachary, we have often had it so, 
and yet had a good crop of rape.” 

“ Yes, Karl, the black ; but the gray , — 
I have brought you the proof for your en- 
tertainment,” and he reached to the table 
and picked out a little chrysalis ; but when 
he opened it, there was nothing in it. 

“That is what I say, Karll° These old 
skulking gray chafers are such sly old dogs, 
they are not to be reckoned on, and no 
more is the mischief they do. You shall 
see, Karl, this whole year will be a spoiled 
omelet, everything is going contrary to 
nature. How ? Usually you will see 
crows in the rye, by May-day; this year 
you will see half-grown turkeys there ! 
No, Karl, the world has turned round, and 
in some places the pastors are already 
preaching from their pulpits that the moon 
has crowded in between the sun and the 
earth, and that then the sun comes too 
near to the earth, and everything will be 
destroyed, that this is the beginning of the 
last day, and that people must repent.” 

“ Ah, Zachary, that is all stuff and non- 
sense.” 

“ So I say, Karl, and the repenting has 
turned out badly, in some places, for at 
Little Bibow, the day-laborers have struck 
work, and sold their bits of possessions to 
the Jews, and drink from morning to 
night, because they want to enjoy their 
property here. My Pastor Gottlieb would 
have preached something of the kind, but 
I stood by Lining, and she talked him out 
of it. But no good will come of such a 
year, Karl.” 

“ I think, myself, that we shall have a 
bad harvest; but Kurz was here yester- 
day, and he talked so much about the fine 
winter wheat, which is standing in the 
fields ” 

“ Karl, I thought you had more sense. 
Kurz ! I beg of you. Kurz ! He knows 
what a salt herring ought to be, he under- 
stands that , for he is an experienced mer- 
chant; but when he talks about winter 
wheat, he should get up earlier in the 
morning, — that belongs to farmers, expe- 


rienced farmers. And this is just what I 
say, Karl, everybody thinks he may med- 
dle with our business, and these old city 
folks are as wise as the bees. Well, 
if any one practices farming pour paster 
la tante, just for his own amusement, — 
alaboncoeur! I have no objections; but 
if he sets himself as a judge — well ! 
Kurz I In syrup casks and cards, He can 
see straight enough ; but when he looks at 
a rye-field, there is a veil before his eyes. 
But what I was going to say is, next week 
I am coming to you, bag and baggage.” 

“ No, Briisig, no ! If this proves a bad 
year, you will be necessary to the young 
people, and the young pastor knows too 
little of farming to be able to get on with- 
out you.” 

“Yes, Karl, he is stupid, and if you 
think so, — for I have quite given myself 
up to you, — then I will stay with him. 
But now, good-bye. I don’t know what 
ails me, but my stomach feels badly: I 
will see if Frau Pastorin hasn’t a little 
kiimmel for me.” 

With that he went out, but put his head 
in again to say, “ I had almost forgotten 
about Pumpelhagen, they have a manage- 
ment there, now, that you could warm 
your hands and feet at. Yesterday I met 
your Triddlesitz, at the boundary, and al- 
though he is such an infamous greyhound, 
he almost cried. ‘ Herr Inspector,’ said 
he, ‘ you see I lay all night, thinking about 
the management, and not able to sleep, 
and when I had planned it all out, in 
the nicest way, and given the people their 
orders, in the morning, do you see, the 
Herr comes out with his arm in a sling, 
and spoils my plans, and sends one laborer 
here, and another there, running about 
the fields like hens with their heads cut 
off, and I run after them and get them to- 
gether again, and get things in order, and 
then, in the afternoon, he tears it all to 
pieces again ! ’ Karl, it must be a great 
satisfaction for you, — that is, to see that 
they cannot get on without you.” Then 
he shut the door, and went off, but, after 
a little while, made his appearance again : 
“Karl, what I was going to say — half the 
horses in Pumpelhagen are used up ; a 
couple of days ago, there stood a loaded 
manure-cart, and the poor beasts stood 
there so forlorn, head and ears down, just 
like the peasants in church. And it is not 
because they are overworked, but because 
they have not enough to eat, for your young 
Herr has no superfluity in his barns, and 
he has sold this spring three tons of oats 
and two tons of peas to the Jews, and 
now his granary is as bare as if the cattle 


200 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


had licked it. And now he must buy oats ; 
but the poor screws that earn his bread 
don’t get it, most of it goes to the old 
thorough-bred mares who do nothing but 
steal a living from others. There is great 
injustice in the world ! Well, good-bye, 
Karl ! ” and this time he really departed. 

That was a sad picture, which Brasig 
had drawn of the situation at Pumpelha- 
gen; but in truth, matters were much 
worse, for he had said nothing of the in- 
fluence which Axel’s constant need of 
money had upon his temper, and this was 
the saddest. Continual embarrassment 
not only makes a man out of humor, it 
makes him hard towards his inferiors, and 
our Axel fell into the old fault ; he believed 
he was so badly off because his people 
fared too well, and Pomuchelskopp was 
always telling him so. He took from them 
one thing here, and another there, and 
when his natural good-nature got the up- 
per hand, he gave them again something 
here and there ; but everything capri- 
ciously, — and that has a bad effect. At 
first, the people had laughed at his con- 
fused management, but that is always the 
beginning, and the laughing soon became 
a grumbling, and the grumbling broke 
out into accusations and complaints. Un- 
der Habermann’s rule, the day-laborers 
had always received their grain and money 
at the right time ; now they must wait, 
until there was something to give them ; 
that was bad. And if they went to their 
master with complaints they were snubbed ; 
that was worse. Discontent was uni- 
versal. 

Axel comforted himself with, the new 
harvest, and with the new receipts ; but, un- 
fortunately, Brasig proved a true prophet ; 
when the harvest was ripe it was very thin, 
and when it was garnered, the barns were 
only half full, and the old experienced 
country people said to the new beginners : 
“ Take care ! Spare in time, and you will 
have in need ! The grain will not hold 
out.” The advice was good, but of what 
use was it to Axel ? He must have money, 
so he had most of his grain thrashed out, 
for seed-corn and for sale. And grain 
was for sale at a fine price, for the Jews 
saw how it must turn out, and bought 
up on speculation, and so to the natural 
scarcity was added an artificial. The old 
day-laborers, at Pumpelhagen, shook their 
heads, as the loads of rye were driven 
from the Court : “ What will become 

of us ! What will become of us ! We 
have got no bread-corn.” And the house- 
wives stood together, wringing their 
hands : “ See, neighbor, that little heap ! 


Those are all my potatoes, and all poor, 
and what are we to live on this winter ? ” 
And so the scarcity was universal, and it 
had come over this blessed land like a 
thief in the night, no one had thought of 
it, no one had prepared for it, since no one 
knew what to expect. But it was the 
worst in the little towns, and there it was 
the hardest for the poor mechanics, — for 
laboring men, there, was still labor, and 
their children went about begging from 
door to door, and afterwards there were 
soup-kitchens organized ; but the poor 
mechanics? They had no work, — no one 
employed them, — and they did not un- 
derstand begging, nor did it suit their 
honor and reputation. Ah, I went once 
into the room of a right clever, industrious 
burgher’s wife, when the dinner stood 
upon the table, and the hungry children 
stood around it, and as I entered the room 
the Frau threw, a cloth over the platter, 
and when she had gone out to call her 
husband, I lifted the cloth, and what did 
I find? Boiled potato-skins. That was 
their dinner. 

At such times, our Lord sits in the 
heavens, and sifts the good from the bad, 
so that every one may clearly distinguish 
between them ; the good, he keeps by him- 
self, in his sieve, that he may take his 
pleasure in them, and that they may bear 
fruit, the bad fall through with the tares 
and the cockles and the nettles, — these 
are their unrighteous wishes, their wicked 
intentions, and their bad thoughts, — and 
when one looks to see if they bear fruit, 
the weeds are growing rapidly, and the 
blossoms make a fair show before the 
world, but when the harvest comes, and 
the sickle goes through the field, then 
their grain falls light on the soil, and the 
master turns away from the field, for it 
stands written, “ By their fruits ye shall 
know them.” 

Many a one stood firm in this trial, and 
gave with full hands, in spite of his own 
necessities, and the Landrath von O 

and the Kammerath von E and the 

Piichter H and also our old Moses, 

and many others, remained in the Lord's 
sieve, and bore good fruit in these bad 
times, but Pomuchelskopp fell through, 
and Slusuhr and David, and lay among 
the tares and the nettles, and they sat to- 
gether at Gurlitz, and planned how they 
might fatten their swine upon other peo- 
ple’s misfortunes. And David and Slusuhr 
knew well enough how to do it, if they 
only had money enough, they would lend 
it out to the poor and the distressed, to 
the hungry and the freezing, at high inter- 




SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


est ; but the capital which they had at | 
their command, for the time being, was all j 
embarked in this fine business, and they | 
came now to the Herr Proprietor to get 
him to advance money and he should 
share in their profits. But the far-sighted 
Herr would not do this, it would be in 
everybody’s mouth, and he should be 
blamed ; so he said that he had nothing to 
spare, and must keep the little he had to 
bring his cattle and his people through. 

“ As for your cattle,” said Slusuhr inso- 
lently, “ I give in ; but for the people ? 
Do me the favor to say nothing about 
them 1 Y<?ur people are begging all over 
the country, and just as we drove by the 
parsonage, your housewives and their 
children were standing in the parson’s 
yard, and your old friend Brasig stood by 
two great pails of pea soup, and the young 
Frau Pastorin ladled it into their kettles. 

“ Let them ! let them ! ” said Pomuchels- 
kopp, “I wouldn’t hinder any body in a 
good work. They may have it to spare ; I 
haven’t, and I have no money either.” 

“You have the Pumpelhagen notes,” 
said David. 

“ Yes, do you think he can pay them ? 
He has had a poorer harvest than the rest 
of us, and the little he had he has threshed 
out and sold.” 

“ That is just it,” said Slusuhr, “ now is 
your time. Such a fipe opportunity may 
not come again, and he cannot take it un- 
kindly of you, for you are yourself pressed 
for money, and must pay the notes to 
David. Now don’t make any objections, 
but shake the tree, for the plums are 
ripe.” 

“ How high is the sum total ? ” inquired 
David. 

“Well,” said Pomuchelskopp, going to 
his desk, and scratching his head, “ I have 
his notes here for eleven thousand tha- 
lers.” 

“ Oh, nonsense ! ” said Slusuhr, “ it must 
be more than that.” 

“ No, it isn’t more than that, — I lent him 
eight thousand on security, a year and a 
half ago, when he asked me.” 

“Then you have done a stupid thing, 
but you must first give him notice, and 
then you can sue him,” said the notary ; 
“ but never mind 1 Give me the eleven 
thousand thalers, we can distress him 
finely, in these hard times.” 

Muchel would not consent, at first ; but 
Hauning put her head in at the door, and 
he knew very well what she wanted, so he 
gave the notes to Slusuhr and David. 

Then the old game was played over 
again in Pumpelhagen, Slusuhr and David 


201 

came, and set Axel burning, as if with 
fever, and attacked him more sharply 
than ever, and this time there was no talk 
of extension. He must and should pay, 
and he had’nt a shilling, not even the pros- 
pect of getting any money. It came over 
him like Nicodemus in the night, and for 
the first time the dark thought rose in his 
mind that this was a concerted plan, that 
his friendly neighbor at Gurlitz was the 
real cause of his embarrassment, and that 
he must have some special design in send- 
ing the notes to be cashed through these 
two rascals ; but what it could be, re- 
mained hidden from his eyes. But what 
availed thinking and grumbling, he must 
have money, and from whom ? He knew 
no one, and in spite of the suspicion which 
had risen in his mind, his thoughts re- 
turned to his neighbor Pomuchelskopp. 
He must help ; who else was there ? He 
mounted his horse, and rode over to Gur- 
litz. 

Muchel received him with uncommon 
friendliness and cordiality, as if neighbors 
should be drawn nearer together, in these 
hard times, and stand by each other faith- 
fully, in their troubles. He told great 
stories of his bad harvest, and complained 
sadly of his pecuniary embarrassments, so 
that Axel was quite taken aback in his 
purposes, and feel almost ashamed to come 
to a man who was in such distress, to ask 
for assistance. But need breaks iron, and 
he asked him, finally, why he had served 
him so as to give up his notes to those 
two bloodsuckers ; and Pomuchel folded 
his hands on his stomach, and looked very 
mournfully at the young man, saying, — 

“ Ah, Herr von Rainbow, in my great 
need 1 Do you see 1 ” and he opened his 
desk, and showed a drawer, in which a 
couple of hundred thalers were lying, 
“ There is all I have, and I must take care 
of my people and my cattle, and I thought 
perhaps you might have money lying 
idle.” 

“ But,” said Axel, “ why not come to me 
yourself? ” 

“ I did not like to,” said Muchel ; “ you 
know the old proverb, ‘ Money joins ene- 
mies, and severs friends,’ and we are such 
good friends.” 

Yes, that was true, Axel said ; but these 
two had distressed him grievously, and he 
was in the most dreadful embarrassment. 

“Did they do that ?”, exclaimed Po- 
muchelskopp, “ but they ought not 1 I gave 
it to them on condition that my dear Herr 
Neighbor should not be distressed. You 
will of course want the note extended, 
it will cost you a little something, per- 


202 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


haps, but that can be no objection under 
the circumstances.” 

Axel knew that, but he did not let him- 
self be so easily persuaded, his condition 
was too desperate, and he begged earnest- 
ly that if the Herr Proprietor had no 
money to spare, he would help him with 
his credit. “ Good heavens ! gladly,” said 
Mucliel, “ but with whom ? Who has any 
money now ? ” 

“ Could not Moses help ? ” asked Axel. 

“ I don’t know him at all,” was the re- 
ply, “ I have no dealings with him. Your 
father did business with him, and you 
know him yourself. Yes, I would go and 
see him.” 

That was all the comfort Axel got; 
smoothly as an eel, the Herr Proprietor 
slipped through his fingers, and when he 
got on his horse, and rode home, all was 
dark around him, but it was darker still 
within. 

David and Slusuhr came again, they 
beset him in the most shameless manner, 
and whatever he might say of Pomuchels- 
kopp’s later intentions, they would know 
nothing about them, they only knew that 
they must have their money. 

He rode hither and thither, he knocked 
here and there ; but there was nothing to 
be had anywhere; and weary and dis- 
couraged he came home, and there he was 
met by the quiet eyes of his wife, which 
said, clearly enough, that she suspected 
everything, but her mouth was silent, and 
her lips closely compressed, as if a fair 
book, in which stood many a word of com- 
fort, must remain forever closed to him. 
Since the time when Habermann had been 
sent off in such a disgraceful manner, and 
she had become aware of the great injus- 
tice she had done him, out of love to her 
husband, she had said nothing more to 
him about his difficulties; she could not 
help him, and she would give him no occa- 
sion to betray himself and other people 
with new falsehoods. But this time he was, 
for the moment, in great anxiety, and his 
excitable, vexed, hasty demeanor betrayed 
his distress more fully than usual, and 
when she retired that night, and looked 
long at her child, the thought flashed 
through her head and heart, he was yet 
the father of her dearest on earth, and he 
seemed to her so pitiable that she wept 
bitterly over him, and she promised her- 
self to speak to him with friendliness, the 
next morning, and to take upon herself, 
willingly, her share of his self-imposed 
burdens. 

But when morning came, Axel come 
down stairs, with singing and piping, and 


called Triddelsitz, and gave him instruc- 
tions, and called for Krischan Dlisel, and 
ordered him to put the horses to the car- 
riage, and prepare for several days ab- 
sence, and came in to his wife with a face 
which was not merely free from distress 
but full of security, so that she was as- 
tounded, and took back her promise. 

“ Are you going a journey ? ” she asked. 

“Yes, I must travel on business, and 
shall probably go as far as Schwerin. 
Have you any commands for the sisters V ” 

She had merely greetings to send, and 
after a little while Axel said good-bye, 
and got into the carriage, and drove to 
Schwerin. He had told his wife but half 
the truth; he had* no other business but 
at Schwerin, and with his sisters. It had 
occurred to him, during the night, that his 
sisters had money; his father had left 
them a little house, with a garden, and 
fifteen thousand thalers, and their capital 
was invested at four and a half per cent., 
and they lived on the interest ; to be sure, 
in rather slender circumstances, but the 
Kammerrath could not do better for them, 
and had reckoned that the brothers-in-law, 
and especially Axel, would be able to assist 
them a little. This capital had occurred 
to Axel in the night, he could use it at 
once, it would help him immediately, and 
he could pay them interest for it, as well 
as strange people, bjjt he would give them 
five per cent., and, though he was hard 
up for the moment, the devil must be in 
it, if he could not pay them again. This 
prospect was ■what had so enlivened him. 

When the young Herr came to Schwerin, 
and explained his business to the sisters, 
and complained of the bad year, the poor 
old creatures became very soft-hearted 
and comforted him, as if the whole world 
had gone against him, and when Albertine, 
who was the cleverest of them, and who 
looked after the money matters, began to 
speak very gently of securities, the other 
two, and especially Fidelia, interrupted 
her. That would be very narrow-minded, 
their brother was in need, and so were 
many people in the country, and their 
brother was their pride, and their only de- 
pendence, so their blessed father had said, 
shortly before his death ; and when Axel 
readily promised to give them security on 
the estate Albertine surrendered, and the 
three old maidens were greatly delighted 
that they could help their dear brother. 
He was also fortunate, in getting hold of 
the money ; a couple of Jews had it, and 
he found them, and a little- interest was 
due on it, and this he took likewise, for he 
intended, of course, that his sisters should 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


receive their full fifteen thousand thalers 
again, and from this time get five per cent, 
interest on it. 

He returned to his house, in the week 
after New Year, 1847, and a couple of days 
later, when David and Slusuhr came again, 
expecting to torment him, he counted out 
the money on the table, paid his notes, 
and made a bow to their long faces, which 
both translated into the words : “ A good 
riddance, gentlemen ! ” 

“ What is this ? ” asked Slusuhr, as they 
got into their carriage. 

“ God bless me ! ” said David, “ he has 
money. Did you see ? He had still a great 
packet of money.” 

“ Yes, but how did he get it ? ” 

“ Well, we must ask Zodick.” 

Zodick was a poor cousin of David’s, 
whom he always took with him, as coach- 
man, but his real business was to listen to 
the people on the estate. 

“ Zodick, did you see, did you hear 
where he has been ? ” 

“ The coachman told me he had been to 
Schwerin.” 

“ To Schwerin ? What business had he 
at Schwerin ? ” 

“ He got the money there.” 

“ In Schwerin ? It is what I have always 
said to my father, these nobility stand-by 
each other. He must have got it from the 
rich one, from the cousin.” 

“ So V ” asked Slusuhr, taking a packet 
of money out of his pocket, and holding it 
under David’s nose. “ Smell of that I 
Does that smell of nobility ? It smells of 
garlic; he got it from your confounded 
Jews. But it is all one, — we must go to 
Pomuchelskopp. Ha, ha, ha ! How the 
crafty, little beast will hop about with 
anger ! ” 

And in that he was right, Pomuchels- 
kopp was beyond all control, when he 
learned that his blow had not succeeded : 
“ I said so, I said so ; it was not yet time ; 
but, Hauning, Hauning ! you crowded me 
so!” 

“ You are a blockhead ! ” said Hauning, 
and left the room. 

“ Take hold again,” said Slusuhr; “nev- 
er mind this, now you can give him notice, 
for St. John’s day, for the eight thousand 
which you have let him have.” 

“ No, no,” whispered Pomuchelskopp, 
“ that is the only foothold I have in that 
fine estate ; if he should pay me, my plans 
are all spoiled. And he has still more 
money ? ” he asked of David. 


203 

“ He had a large packet and a small 
packet.” 

“ Well,” said Slusuhr, “ you will have 
your way, like the dog in the well ; but he 
must be an uncommon blockhead if he 
doesn’t suspect, now, that you are at the 
bottom of the whole affair ; and, if he has 
smelt a rat, it amounts to the same thing, 
whether you give him notice now, or a 
couple of years later.” 

“ Children, children ! ” cried this digni- 
fied old proprietor, stamping and puffing 
up and down the room, like a steam-engine, 
“ if he has really suspected it, he cannot 
do without me ; I am the only friend that 
can help him.” 

“ Well, don’t help him, then. St. John’s 
day is the best time, then he has no money 
coming in.” 

“ Hasn’t he though ? He has the wool- 
money, and the rape-money.” 

“Yes, but then he has interest to pay, 
and most of it will have been spent before- 
hand.” 

“ No, I cannot do it, I cannot do it ; the 
foot which I have once planted in that fine 
estate, I can never draw back,” said our old 
philanthropist. 

“ It is a great pity for a man to set him- 
self about something, and then be afraid 
of the means,” said the Herr Notary to 
David, as they drove home. “ Our fine 
business in Pumpelhagen is at an end. I 
shall merely have to deal with the old wo- 
man, instead of him, the old woman will 
put it through.” 

“ A dreadfully strong, clever woman,” 
said David. 

“ Well, there is no help for it. Our 
milch cow at Pumpelhagen is dry. And it 
would all have gone well enough, David, 
if you had not been such a dunce. Why 
couldn’t you make your father give notice 
for his seven thousand thalers ? Then we 
two could have stripped him finely.” 

“ Good heavens ! ” cried David, “ he 
wouldn’t do it. There he goes to old 
Habermann, and there they sit and talk, 
and when I say, ‘ Father, dear, give no- 
tice ! ’ then he says, 4 Give notice of your 
own money, I will take care of mine.’ ” 

“ He is getting childish then, and a man 
whose judgment is not worth more should 
be put under guardians,” said Slusuhr. 

“ Well, you know, I have thought of that ; 
but, you know, — it is so — well, so — so 
— and then, you know, the father is too 
clever ! ” 


204 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Axel, by the help of what remained of 
his sisters’ money, slipped along through 
the spring and half the summer of 1847, 
and, as he at last came to the bottom of 
his purse, he preferred to sell his wool in 
anticipation, rather than apply to his hon- 
est old neighbor. He saw, at last, the 
thick knuckles of Pomuchelskopp behind 
the whole affair, and his suspicion grew 
more and more lively that he had been 
sheared like one of the sheep, and that his 
dear old neighbor had kept the wool, 
though of what his chief aim might be he 
had not the least conception. He grew 
colder and colder towards Pomuchelskopp, 
he no longer visited him, he went out 
through the garden into the fields, when 
he saw from the window the Herr Pro- 
prietor coming to call, and his wife re- 
joiced silently at the change. We might 
rejoice, also, if he had acted intelligently 
and with consideration, and had broken 
off the intercourse with a cool head, but 
he worked himself up into such an opposi- 
tion to Pomuchelskopp, that he wished 
never to set eyes on him again, and when 
Hie opportunity occurred, at the patriotic 
union at Rahnstadt, and the Herr Propri- 
etor pressed up to him in a very friendly 
way, he not only snubbed him, but treated 
him in the most contemptuous manner, 
and used such bitter words that all the 
people who were assembled there took it 
for a reproach against Pomuchelskopp for 
his money-lending. This was, if not dis- 
honorable, certainly extremely foolish, for 
he still owed Pomuchelskopp eight thou- 
sand thalers, which he was not ready to 
pay, and, if he had known the Herr Pro- 
prietor as well as he said, he must also have 
known what the effect of such treatment 
would be. Pomuchelskopp could swallow 
a considerable dose of rudeness, but this, 
in the presence of all the people, was too 
much for him, and his vengeance lay too 
close at hand for him not to avail himself 
of it. He said nothing, but he went 
round to Slusuhr the notary : “ You can 
give the Herr von Rambow notice on St. 
John’s day, to pay my eight thousand 
thalers on St. Anthony’s. I know, now, 
where I am ; we shall get him in our fin- 
gers again, and he shall smart to pay for it.” 

“ If only Moses would give notice too ! ” 
cried Slusuhr, and this pious wish was des- 
tined to fulfilment, but later. A change 
had also come over young Jochen, al- 
though no one but Frau Niissler had 
thought of it ; she, indeed, had long sus- 
pected that her Jochen would come to a 


I bad end, and that, at last, he would not 
allow himself to be ruled by any one. And 
the time had now come. Jochen had, 
! from the first, laid by money every year ; 
at first indeed, only a couple of hundred 
thalers ; but afterwards the hundreds be- 
came thousands, and though he did not 
trouble himself to count the money, his 
wife told him, every New-Year’s morning, 
how much they had saved the past year, 
and his soul rejoiced in it, though he 
scarcely knew why ; but he had been ac- 
customed to it now for many years, and 
custom and life were, for Jochen, the same 
thing. When the bad year came, Frau 
Niissler said to Jochen at the harvest: 
“ This will be a bad year, you shall see we 
shall have to use some of our capital.” 

“ Mother ! ” said Jochen, looking at her 
with astonishment, “ you wouldn’t do it 1 ” 
But this New-Year’s morning his dear 
wife came and told him she had, this year, 
taken up three thousand thalers, and God 
grant they might get through with that ! 
“ We cannot let our people and our cattle 
starve,” she added. 

Jochen sprang to his feet, a very un- 
usual thing, trod on Banschan’s toes, an- 
other unusual thing, looked stupidly in his 
wife’s face, but said nothing, which was 
not unusual, and went silently out of the 
room, Banschan following him. Noon 
came, Jochen was not there, a fine spare- 
rib was smoking on the table, Jochen did 
not appear ; his wife called him, but he did 
not hear ; she sought him, but he could 
not be found ; for he was standing in the 
dark cow-house, in one hand the tar- 
bucket, in the other, the tar-brush, with 
which he was marking crosses on his cat- 
tle ; Bauschan stood beside him. After a 
long time, his wife discovered him at this 
occupation. 

“ Good gracious, Jochen, why don’t you 
come to dinner ? ” 

“ Mother, I have not time.” 

“ What are you doing here in the cow- 
stable, with the tar-bucket ? ” 

“ I am marking the cows, that we must 
sell.” 

“ God forbid ! ” cried Frau Niissler, 
snatching the brush out of his hand. 

“ What is this ? my best milk-giver 3 1 ” 
“Mother,” said Jochen quietly, “we 
must get rid of some of our people and 
our cows, they will eat us out of house and 
home.” And it was fortunate he had be- 
gun on the cattle, and not on the people, 
otherwise the boys and girls might have 
been running about Rexow, that New 
Year’s day, with tar crosses marked on 
their backs. 


\ 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


With great difficulty Frau Niissler 
coaxed him away from this business, and 
got him into the house, but then Jochen 
announced it as his positive decision, he 
would manage no longer, and he could 
manage no longer, and Rudolph must 
come, and marry Mining, and undertake 
the management. Frau Niissler could do 
nothing with him, and sent for Brasig. 
And Mining, who had heard enough, for 
her share, fled to her little gable-room, 
and held her little heart with both hands, 
and said to herself that was wrong, why 
should not her father take his ease, and 
why should not Rudolph c:irry on the 
farm, he was able, Hilgendorff had written 
so ; and, if Uncle Brasig was opposed to 
her in this matter, she would tell him, 
once for all, she would no longer be his ' 
godchild. 

When Brasig came, and the matter was 
explained to him, he placed himself before 
young Jochen, and said to him, “What 
are you doing, young Jochen ? Painting 
your cows with tar crosses, on the blessed 
New-Year’s morning? and going to sell 
your wife’s best milk-givers? and going 
to give up the management ? ” 

‘"Brasig, Rudolph can manage ; why 
should not Mining get married, when Lin- 
ing is married ? Is Mining any worse ? ” 
And he looked sideways at Bauschan, and 
Bauschan shook his head. 

“ Jochen,” said Brasig, “ that is all 
right. You have spoken a very clever 
word in your foolishness,” — Jochen looked 
up — “ no, Jochen, it is no special credit 
to you, it is only because it suits my ideas, 
for I am of the opinion that Rudolph must 
manage here. Keep still, Frau Niissler,” 
said he, “just come here, a moment.” 
And he drew Frau Niissler into another 
room, and put the case before her. Until 
Easter, he should stay with Pastor Gott- 
lieb, and till then, he could look after mat- 
ters here ; but, after Easter, Rudolph must 
manage, “ and that will be good for you,” 
he added, “ for he will make no tar crosses 
on your cows, and it will be good for him 
too, he will get used to managing, by de- 
grees, and then, a year from Easter, we 
will have a joyful wedding.” 

“ But, Brasig, that will never do, how 
can Mining and Rudolph live in one house, 
what will people say ? ” 

“Frau Niissler, I know people have a 
very bad opinion of their fellow-creatures 
when they are betrothed; I know, when 
I had three, — eh, what was I saying? 
•Well, Mining can go to Pastor Gottlieb’s at 
Easter, I shall go to Rahnstadt, to Habei*- 
mann, and then my room will be empty.” 


205 

“ Well, that would do,” said Frau Niiss- 
ler. 

And so it was all arranged. Rudolph 
came at Easter, but Mining must go, and 
as she sat in the carriage with bag and 
baggage, she wiped the tears from her 
eyes, and thought herself the most unfor- 
tunate being in the world, because her 
mother had thrust her out of her father’s 
house among strangers, — by which she 
meant her sister Lining, — and that with- 
out any reason; and she clenched her 
little fist, when she thought of Brasig, for 
her mother had let it out that Brasig had 
advised it. “ Yes,” said she, “ and now 
I am to go into his room, which he has so 
smoked up with tobacco, that one can 
write his name with his finger, on the 
walls.” 

But how she opened her eyes, when she 
entered the room ! In the middle of the 
room stood a table, covered with a white 
cloth, and on it stood a pretty glass vase 
with a great bouquet of such flowers as 
the season afforded ; snow drops and blue 
violets, yellow daffodils and hyacinths, and 
under it lay a letter to Mining Niissler, in 
Uncle Brasig’s handwriting, and as she 
opened it she was almost frightened, for 
it was a copy of verses, and this was the 
first time she had received such homage. 
Uncle Brasig had borrowed an old verse- 
book from Schultz the carpenter, and 
found a couple of verses to suit him, and 
added another out of his own head, and 
this was the letter : 

“ To my dear Godchild! 

** The room is mine 
And yet not mine. 

He who was before me 
Thought it his own. 

“ He went out 
And I came in, 

When I am gone 
It will be so again. 

“ Yes, parting and leaving are sad, 

But next year, we shall be glad, 

Be good and contented here, 

And the wedding shall be next year! ** 

Mining turned red a little, over the last 
line, and fell upon Lining’s neck, laughing 
and scolding Brasig; but in heart she 
waved him a friendly kiss. And so Min- 
ing was here, Rudolph at Rexow, and 
Brasig with the Frau Pastorin and Haber- 
mann at Rahnstadt. 

There was not much change in Haber- 
mann, he still kept by himself, although 
many troubled themselves about him ; the 
rector preached him a little sermon now 


206 SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


and then, Kurz entertained him with agri- 
cultural conversation, and old Moses hob- 
bled up the stairs, and asked his advice 
about his business ; but this did not cheer 
the old man, he tormented himself, day 
and night, with thoughts of his child, and 
with the long-deferred hope that the day- 
laborer Regel might return, and by a full 
confession free him from these shameful 
suspicions. The laborer had sent letters, 
and also money, to his wife and children ; 
but never let himself be seen. The little 
Frau Pastorin had a secret anxiety lest 
her old friend should become incurably 
morbid, and she felt truly thankful, when 
Brasig finally came. Brasig could help 
her, and Brasig would ; if any one could, 
he was the man. His restless and yet 
good-natured disposition left his Karl no 
peace, Karl must do this, and do that, he 
must go walking with him, he must listen 
to all the stupid books that Brasig got out 
of the Rahnstadt Circulating Library, and 
if nothing else would rouse him, Brasig 
would make the most extravagant asser- 
tions, till he had stirred Karl up to con- 
tradict him, and engaged him in a dispute. 
In this way, there seemed a real improve- 
ment in Habermann ; but if the conversa- 
tion turned upon Pumpelhagen or Franz, 
it was all over, and the evil spirit came 
upon him again. 

Louise was much better off, she was not 
one of the woman who believe that if 
their love is blighted they must doctor 
themselves all their lives, and must show 
the world, through a weary, dreamy be- 
havior, how sick their poor hearts are, that 
death alone can heal them, and that they 
are of no more use in the world. No, she 
did not belong to this species, she had 
strength and courage to bear a great grief 
by herself, she needed not the compassion 
of the world. Deep, deep at the bottom 
of her heart lay her love, like pure gold, 
and she granted no one a sight of it, its 
very shining was locked up from the 
world, and when she went into this secret 
place, in quiet hours, and looked at her 
treasure, she changed it into little money 
for every-day use, and gave it out, here 
and there, to all with whom she had to do ; 
and this love the world perceived, but not 
the other. When our Lord sees such a 
heart striving bravely against misfortune, 
and trying to turn it into good, then he 
helps it, and sends many a chance to its 
help, of which no one thinks. Chances 
men call them, but, rightly viewed, they are 
the consequences of many other conse- 
quences, of which the first cause is hidden 
from our sight. 


Such a chance befell Louise, in the Spring 
after the Female Vehmgericht. She was 
coming home from Lining’s at Gurlitz, and 
going between the Rahnstadt gardens, 
along a footpath, when a garden gate 
opened, and a pretty little maiden stepped 
out, blushing rosy red, and put into her 
hand a nosegay of lilacs and tulips and 
narcissus. “ Ah, take them,” said the 
little assessor, — for it was she, — and a3 
Louise stood, rather astonished, not know- 
ing how she came there, the tears ran 
down the little assessor’s cheeks, and she 
covered her hand over her eyes, and said, 
“I should be so glad to give you a pleas- 
ure.” 

Well, that was so kind and friendly I 
Louise threw her arm about her, and kissed 
the little assessor, and the latter drew her 
into the garden, to the arbor, and then 
they sat under the blossoming lilacs, 
and Louise and the innocent little girl con- 
ceived a warm friendship for each other, 
for from the coals of love friendship is 
easily kindled, and from this time the little 
assessor was a daily guest at the Frau 
Pastorin’s, and all in the house rejoiced at 
her coming. When Habermann heard the 
first tone of the Frau Pastorin’s old piano, 
he came down stairs, and sat in the corner, 
and listened, while the little assessor 
brought sweet music out of the old instru- 
ment, and when that was over, the Frau 
Pastorin had her diversion, for the little 
assessor was a doctor’s daughter, and 
doctors and doctors’ children always have 
something new to tell, and although the 
Frau Pastorin was not exactly inquisitive 
she was very glad to know what was going 
on in the world, and since the time she 
had lived in the city thi$ little peculiarity 
had developed in her, and she said to 
Louise, “ I don’t know ; but it seems as if 
one was glad to know what is going on 
around one; but when my sister Trid- 
delsitz tells me anything, it all sounds so 
sharp, but when little Anna tells anything 
it sounds so innocent and gay ; she must 
be a good little child.” 

But the real significance of this friend- 
ship first appeared when the bad year 
came, and its consequences entered the lit- 
tle city, — poverty and hunger and misery. 
Little Anna’s father was a doctor, and he 
had no title at all ; but he had something 
better, he had a compassionate heart, and 
when he had told of this and that, at home, 
the little assessor would go to the Frau 
Pastorin and Louise, and tell it over again, 
and the Frau Pastorin would go to her 
store-room, and into the pantry, and down 
into the cellar, and pack a basket, — she 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


always did that herself, nobody else must 
meddle with it, — and the two little maid- 
ens carried it off, in the half-twilight, and 
when they came back, they gave each 
other a kiss, and the Frau Pastorin one, 
and Habermann one, and that was all. 
And when the soup-kitchen was to be 
started, the ladies of Rahnstadt held a 
great “ perpendicle,” as Brasig called it, to 
decide what it was best to do, and the 
1 rau Syndic said, “ It should be something 
noble,” and when she was asked what she 
meant by that, she said it was all one to 
her ; but it must be noble, otherwise she 
would have nothing to do with it. And 
the old V ehmgerichters said there must be 

t a distinction made between the wicked 
and the good poor, the wicked might go 
hungry ; and a young lady, who was just 
married, said they ought to have gentle- 
men at the head ; but that was a great 
mistake, all were opposed to her, and the 
Frau Syndic said, so long as she had 
lived — and that must be a good many 
years, interjected Frau Krummhorn — 
cooking and nursing had come under the 
rule of the ladies, what did men know 
about such things ? but the business must 
be noble. And the conventicle separated, 
as wise as it had been when it came to- 
gether, and when the soup-kitchen was 
started, two pretty little maidens, in white 
aprons, served together at the fire, and put 
the gifts for the poor into the soup-kettles, 
and sat down with the wicked and the 
good poor, on the same bench, and peeled 
potatoes for the next day, and scraped 
turnips, and this was the small money into 
which Louise had changed her golden 
treasure, and the little assessor added her 
groschens to the sum. 

Now came Brasig, and relieved the lit- 
tle assessor of the out-door errands, for he 
was peculiarly fitted for such duties, and 
when he had not the confounded Podagra, 
he ran about the city, saying to Haber- 
mann, “ Karl, Dr. Strump says Polchi- 
cum and exercise, and the water-doctor 
says cold water and exercise; they both 
agree on the exercise, and I find that it is 
good for me. What I was going to say — 
Moses sends his regards to you, and is 
coming to see you this afternoon.” 

“What? Has he got back from Do- 
berau, from the baths ? I thought he was 
not to come back until August.” 

“ Yes, Karl, it is St. James’ day, to-day, 
and August is almost here. But — what I 
was going to say, — the old Jew has quite 
renewed his youth, he looks really well, 
and he ran about the room, just to show 
me how spry he was. But I must go to 


207 

old widow Kl'ahn, she is waiting in her 
garden for me, because I promised her 
some turnip-seed, and then I must go to 
Frau Krummhorn, she wants to show me 
her young kittens, to see which one she 
shall keep for us, for, Karl, we need a 
good mouser ; and then I must go to Risch, 
the blacksmith, to see about the shoes 
for Kurz’s old saddle-horse. The old thing 
has wind-gall, as bad, I tell you, Karl, as 
Moses’ David’s corns. You don’t know, 
perhaps, if your young Herr has got a 
horse with a wind-gall, he might like to 
buy the old thing from Kurz, for the com- 
pleteness of his lazaretto. And, towards 
evening, I must go to the Frau Burgo- 
meister, for they have three or four bushels 
of rye, and I shall have a sort of feast, 
since it was cut to-day, and I shall of 
course have Streichelbier, so that it will 
seem quite like farming. Well, good-bye, 
Karl, this afternoon I will read to you, for 
I have brought home an amusing book.” 
And so he ran off again, up street and 
down, like a Jack of all trades, toiling for 
other people ; for since in our little Meck- 
lenburg towns the chief interests turn 
upon farming matters, he advised here and 
prophesied there, helped this one and that, 
and was soon the oracle and errand boy of 
the whole city. After dinner he sat down 
by his Karl, with a book in his hand, to 
read to him out of it, and if we peep over 
his shoulder we may read the title : “ The 
Frogs of Aristophanes, translated from 
the Greek.” We open our eyes; but how 
would the old Greek have opened his eyes 
over the cultivation of the Rahnstadters, 
had he, after two thousand years, peeped 
over uncle Briisig’s shoulder, and per- 
ceived, from the stamp, that his confounded 
Frog-nonsense was ranged with the various 
“ Blossoms ” and “ Pearls,” and “ Forget- 
me-nots ” and “ Roses,” in the Rahnstadt 
Circulating Library. How the rogue 
would have laughed 1 Uncle Brasig did 
not laugh, he sat there very sober, he had 
on his horn spectacles with the great round 
glasses, which shone like a pair of coach- 
lanterns, he held the book as far from his 
body as his arm would reach, and be- 
gan : 

“ The Frogs of Aristop - Hannes — I 
read ‘ Hannes,’ Karl, for I think ‘ Hanes ’ 
must be a mistake in the printing ; for it 
told about ‘ Schinder-Hannes,’ in a book I 
read once, and if this is only half as dread- 
ful, we may be well contented, Karl.” 
Then he began, and read on, in School- 
master Strull’s style, and Habermann sat 
there, as if he were paying close attention, 
but soon his old thoughts slipped in, and 


208 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


when Brasig moistened his finger, to turn 
over the fourth leaf, he saw, with right- 
eous anger, that his old friend had closed 
his eyes. Brasig stood up, and placed 
himself before him, and looked at him. 
It is an old story, that the miller wakes 
when the mill stops grinding, and the 
listeners wake when the sermon is 
at an end, and so it was with Haber- 
mann ; he opened his eyes, took a couple 
of puffs at his pipe, and said, “ Fine, Zach- 
ary, very fine ! ” 

“ How ? you say ‘ fine,’ and you are 
fast asleep.” 

“ Don’t take it unkindly,” s‘aid the old 
man, coming, for the first time, to full 
consciousness, “ but I havn’t understood a 
word. The book must be very dry, or do 
you understand any of it ? ” 

“Not much, Karl, but I have paid a 
groschen for it, and when I pay a groschen, 
I want to get my money’s worth.” 

“ Yes ; but if you don’t understand it ? ” 

“ People read for other things than un- 
derstanding, Karl ; people read pour pas- 
ter la tante, with the books. Just see,” 
and he was going to explain this remark, 
when some one rapped at the door, and 
Moses came in. 

Habermann went up to him : “ This is 
good, Moses I And how fresh you look, 
really handsome ! ” 

“ So my Bliimchen tells me, but she has 
said that for these fifty years.” 

“ Well, how did you like it, at the bath ? ” 

“Do you want to hear some news, 
Habermann. One is pleased twice at the 
bath, first, when one arrives, and secondly, 
when one goes away. It is just as it is 
with a horse and a garden and a house, 
one is glad to get them, and glad to get 
rid of them.” 

“ Yes, you are not used to being idle, 
you had too much business in your head.” 

“Well, what is business ? I am an old 
man. My business is not to get into new 
affairs, and to get my money out of the 
old. And I came to talk to you about 
that; I am going to give notice of my 
seven thousand thalers at Pumpelhagen.” 

“ Oh, Moses, not yet 1 You. would throw 
the Herr von Rambow into great embar- 
assment.” 

“ Well, I don’t know, he must have 
money, he must have a great deal of 
money. David and the notary and 
Pomuchelskopp have been at him, and 
wanted to clear him out of his nest, this 
last New-year, but he paid them eleven 
thousand thalers, at one time. I made it 
out from David. I also heard it from 
Zodick. ‘ Where did you go yesterday ? ’ 


I asked him. ‘ To the court,’ he said. ‘ Zo- 
dick, you lie,’ I told him. Then he swore 
it, till he grew black in the face. But I 
kept saying ‘ Zodick, you lie.’ At last I 
said, ‘I will tell you something,’ said I. 
* The horses are mine, and the carriage is 
mine, and the coachman is mine; if you 
don’t tell the truth, I will send you away, 
and then you will be a beggar.’ Then he 
thought better of it, and told me about 
the eleven thousand thalers, and yester- 
day he told me Pomuffelskopp had given 
him notice of the eight thousand thalers, 
on St. Anthony’s day. Now, Pomuffels- 
kopp is a shrewd man, he must know how 
he stands.” 

“ God bless me ! ’ cried Habermann, and 
his hatred was forgotten, and the old at- 
tachment struck through him, without his 
being conscious of it himself, “ and do you 
mean to give notice, too ? Moses, your 
money is safe.” 

“ Well, suppose it is safe. But I know 
many places where it would be safer,” and, 
looking sharply at the two old inspectors, 
one after the other, he added, with a sin- 
gular expression, “ I have seen him, I have 
also spoken with him.” 

“ Whom ? the Herr von Rambow ? 
Where then ? ” asked Habermann. 

“ At Doberau, at the gaming-table I saw 
him,” said Moses, venomously, “ and I 
spoke with him at my lodgings.” 

“ Good heavens ! ” cried Habermann, 
“he never did that in his life before. How 
has the unhappy young man come to 
that ? ” 

“ I always said,” remarked Brasig, “ this 
Herr Lieutenant was going to the devil 
with his eyes open.” 

“Just heavens!” exclaimed Moses, 
“ how they threw the gold about ! They 
had great heaps of louis-d’ors before 
them, and put them down here, and put 
them down there, and shoved them here, 
and shoved them there, and is that a busi- 
ness ? and do you call that an amusement ? 
A thing to make one’s hair stand on endl 
And there he was among them. ‘ Zodick,’ 
said I, — for Zodick had come with my car- 
riage, I was going away the next day, — 

‘ Zodick, place yourself here, and pay at- 
tention to the Pumpelhagen Herr, how 
it goes with him,’ — it made me sick to 
look on. And in the evening Zodick 
came, and he said he had lost, and in the 
morning the young Herr came to me, and 
wanted a thousand thalers. ‘ I will tell 
you something,’ I said, ‘ if you want me 
to be like a father to you, then come with 
me ; my Zodick is waiting with the car- 
riage before the door, I will take you with 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


me ; it shall not cost you a shilling.’ But 
he would’nt do it, he stayed there.” 

“ The poor, unhappy man 1 ” cried Ha- 
bermann. 

“ This boy 1 ” exclaimed Brasig, indig- 
nantly, “ who has a wife and child 1 Oh, 
if you were mine, I would teach you a 
lesson ! ” 

“ But, Moses, Moses ! ” cried Habermann, 
“ I beg you, by everything in the world, 
don’t demand your money. He will come 
to his senses, and your money is safe.” 

“ Habermann,” said Moses, u you are a 
shrewd man, too, but listen to me : when 
I began the money business, I said to my- 
self, when a man comes cutting a great 
swell, with carriage and horses, and costly 
furniture, then lend money, the man has 
something to pay it with ; when one comes, 
gay and merry and drinking champagne, 
— now, young folks will be young folks ! 
what they spend to-day, they can earn to- 
morrow, — then lend, too ; but when one 
comes with cards in his pocket, and bills 
in his pocket, and throws his money by 
heaps into the gutter, — take care, I said, 
the gambler doesn’t get his money again 
out of the gutter. And then, Habermann, 
what would the people say? The Jew, 
they would say, has laid in wait for the 
young man, he has advanced him money 
for his play, that he should ruin himself, 
and the Jew can find good fishing in the 
troubled waters.” And Moses rose to his 
feet : “ No, the Jew, also, has his honor ! 
and no one shall come, and point to my 
grave, and say, ‘They tell bad stories 
about him.’ And I am not going to lose 
my good name, in my old age, for the sake 
of a young puppy like this. Has he not 
stolen your honest name from you ? and 
yet you are a good man, and a sure man. 
No, sit down,” said he, as Habermann 
sprang up, and strode up and down the 
room, “ I am not going to talk about that ; 
but people are different ; you suffer it, and 
you have your reasons ; I will not suffer 
it, and I also have my reasons. And now, 
adieu, Habermann, adieu, Herr Inspect- 
or,” — going out of the door, — “ but I 
shall give him notice on St. Anthony’s 
day.” 

So from this side also, a storm was 
rising in Axel’s sky, of which he little 
dreamed; dark clouds gathered round 
him, and when the storm should burst, 
who could tell if a shower of hail might 
not fall, which should destroy all his 
springing hopes for ever. He, indeed, 
never allowed himself to think that he 
might be playing a losing game, he com- 
forted himself with the good harvest, with 
14 


209 

the advances he should receive from the 
grain and wool dealers, and also with 
other unforeseen happy chances, which 
might possibly occur. But if such chances 
sometimes come to a man’s help, unfortu- 
nate chances often come, which tax the 
courage of the strongest, and make him 
feel as if he were the plaything of des- 
tiny. And so it happened in the year 
1848 . 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

This is not the place, of course, to de- 
scribe what the year brought with it, of 
good or evil, for the world, every one may 
do that, after his own fashion ; nor shall I 
undertake to relate the consequences, or 
investigate the causes of its events in the 
rest of the world ; but only to tell what 
it brought with it for the company with 
whom I have especially to do, is more than 
I can do off-hand ; or my book would come 
to an end in a very unsatisfactory way. 

When the uproar broke out in Paris, in 
February, it was as far off from Mecklen- 
burg as Turkey itself, and was to most 
people rather amusing than otherwise ; 
they were pleased to have something going 
on in the world. A great taste for poli- 
tics was developed in Rahnstadt, and the 
postmaster said, if it went on like that, 
it would be too much for them, he 
had been obliged to order eleven new 
papers, — four Kamburg-Correspondents, 
and seven “ Tanten-Vossen,” — and this 
proportion was itself a bad sign, for the 
“ Tanten-Vossen ” had a tendency to under- 
mine all the conditions of society ; they 
might not mean any harm by their nonsense, 
but they did it. 

So four and forty Rahnstadt politicians 
were provided for, since at least four, on 
an average, read the same newspaper, 
and the juvenile offspring of the Rahnstadt 
grandees ran about the streets with the 
papers, and took them punctually from 
house to house, as if their worthy parents 
were training them for post-boys. But 
what were eleven papers, in such a town 
as Rahnstadt ? The majority of the citizens 
had nothing of the sort, and some provision 
must be made for them, and so there was. 

“ Johann,” said Hanne Bank’s wife, 
“ where are you going again ? ” 

“ Eh, Dolly, over to Grammelin’s a little 
while.” 

“ You go to the ale-house altogether too 
much, of late.” 

“ Eh, Dolly, only one glass of beer ! 
Rein, the advocate is going to read us the 
papers again this evening ; a man must 
know what is going on in the world.” 


210 


SEED-TIME AND IIARVEST. 


And Ilanne Bank and fifty others went 
after their beer. The advocate Rein sat 
by the table, holding a newspaper in his 
hand ; he looked along the table once or 
twice, and cleared his throat. “ Quiet ! ” 
“ Quiet ! ” “ Grammelin, another glass of 
beer ! ” “ Karl, hold your tongue ! he is 
going to read.” “ Thunder and lightning ! 
can’t I be served with a glass of beer 
first ? ” “ Well, now keep still ! ” and the 
advocate began to read. He read about 
Lyons and Milan and Munich ; revolutions 
were breaking out everywhere, and spread- 
ing all over the world. “ Come, here is 
something,” said he. “‘Island of Ferro, 
the 5th inst. The island is in great excite- 
ment; they intend taking away our me- 
ridian, which we have had over three hun- 
dred years, and transferring it to Green- 
wich, in England. Great animosity to the 
English. The people take up arms ; our 
two regiments of hussars are ordered to 
the defence of the Meridian.’ ” 

“Just think of that, how they are going 
on ! ” “ Yes, neighbor, that is no small 
matter; when one has had a thing three 
hundred years, it must be hard to do with- 
out it.” “ Neighbor, do you know what a 
meridian is ? ” “ Eh, what should it be ? 

It must be something the English can 
make a good use of. You see, you 
wouldn’t believe me, yesterday, that the 
English were at the bottom of the whole 
trouble, now you hear it for yourself.” 

Advocate Rein laid the paper on the 
table, and said, “ The business is getting 
serious ; one may well feel anxious and 
disturbed.” 

“ Good heavens, what is the matter 
now ? ” “ Has anything serious hap- 

pened ? ” 

“ Serious ? I should think so ! Just lis- 
ten ! ‘ North pole, 27th February. An ex- 
tremely dangerous and serious outbreak 
has occurred among the Esquimaux ; they 
obstinately refuse to turn the earth’s axis 
any longer, and they pretend there is a 
lack of train-oil, for greasing, since the 
whale-fisheries have been so bad, during 
the last year. The consequences of this 
disturbance, for the whole world, are not 
to be reckoned.’ ” 

“ Thunder and lightning ! what is that ? 
Will the whole concern stand still ? ” 

“ Eh, the government must do something 
about it ! ” 

“ Eh, neighbor, the nobility will not suf- 
fer that.” 

“I don’t believe a word of it,” said 
Hanne Bank. 

“ You don’t believe it ? Well, as a 
shoemaker, you should know something 


about it. Hasn’t train-oil gone up since 
last year ? ” 

“ Well, children,” said Wimmersdorf, 
the tailor, “ so much I say, no good can 
come of it.” 

“Well,” cried another, “it is all one to 
me ! If the skies fall, the sparrows will 
drop dead. But so much I say, we have 
to work, and shall those lazy dogs at the 
north pole sit with their hands in their 
laps ? Grammelin, another glass of 
beer ! ” 

From these stories one may perceive 
three things ; first, that the advocate, Rein, 
read not merely out of the papers, but oc- 
casionally out of his head, and that he was 
a waggish fellow, and, secondly, that the 
Rahnstadt burghers were not yet quite 
ripe for the newspapers, and, thirdly, that 
men, as a general thing, look at a matter 
very coolly, when it does not affect their 
own interests. 

But it was coming nearer to us. Ore 
fine day, the Berlin post did not arrive, 
and the Rahnstadters stood in a great 
crowd before the post-office, asking them- 
selves, what was the meaning of this ? and 
the grooms who had come to fetch the 
post-bags for the country places, asked 
themselves whether they should wait or 
not ; and the only contented man, in all 
this disturbance, was the Herr Postmaster, 
who stood before tho door, with his hands 
folded on his stomach, twirling his thumbs, 
and saying, for thirty years he had not had 
such a quiet time, between eleven and 
twelve o’clock in the morning, as to-day. 
The next day, instead of the little news- 
boys, came the grandees themselves, and 
instead of the grooms the gentlemen them- 
selves rode in, but that did not help the 
matter, for still the post did not come ; 
but instead, it began to be whispered 
about that a revolution had broken out at 
Berlin. One knew this, and another that, 
and old Diising, the potter, who lived by 
the gate, said he had heard cannon firing 
distinctly, all the morning, which all the 
people honestly believed, although Rahn- 
stadt is twenty-four miles from Berlin. 
Only his neighbor, Hagen, the wheel- 
wright, said, “ Gossip, that cannon firing 
was done by me ; I have been splitting 
beechen-logs all the morning in my wood- 
shed.” 

The third day a post came ; but not 
from Berlin, only from Oranienburg ; and 
they brought along a man, who could 
have told everything, since he was him- 
self in Berlin at the time, if he had not 
talked himself so hoarse that by the time 
he reached Rahnstadt he could not speak a 


211 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


loud word. He was a clerical candidate 
belonging in the region, and the Rahn- 
stadters knew him and nourished him with 
egg-nog to clear his throat ; he drank a 
considerable quantity of the stuff, but it 
did no good ; he pointed to his throat and 
chest, shook his head and was going away. 
But it was asking too much of the Rahn- 
stadters to expect them to submit to such 
a disappointment, they wouldn’t let him off, 
and the candidate was obliged to give a 
representation of the Berlin revolution, in 
pantomime. So he constructed a couple 
of barricades, — in the air, so to speak, for, 
if he had taken hold of the Rahnstadt pav- 
ing stones literally, the police would have 
been after him, — he shot, with his cane, 
behind the barricades, he stormed them, — 
still with his cane, — from in front, he ran 
about wildly among the people to repre- 
sent the dragoons, and succeeded in imi- 
tating the thunder of the cannon, for he 
was just able to say “ Bumm ! ” 

So the Rahnstadters knew, now, how a 
revolution looked, and how it should be 
conducted, and they sat together and drank 
beer and disputed, and things began to 
look so serious that even our friend Rein 
did not try to get off any more of his 
North pole stories. Sometimes, now, also, 
the grandees would come and drink beer, 
to earn popularity against the time when 
the revolution should begin here. 

And it was seriously thought of. There 
were wide-awake people in Rahnstadt, as 
well as in other places, and although the 
citizens had no great common grievance, 
each had his little individual difficulty 
upon which to hang his discontent, one 
had this, another that, and Kurz had the 
stadtbullen. So it came about that all 
were united in the opinion that things 
must be different, and it would come to no 
good, if they did not have their revolution 
also, — that is to say, a little one. 

Out of the indefinite reading of news- 
papers, came a definite Reformverein, 
with a president and a bell ; and the irreg- 
ular running up and down became regular, 
and the number of visitors became so 
large that the company adjourned, one 
evening, from the beer-house to the hall ; 
but they took their beer-mugs along with 
them. All this happened in the greatest 
order, which is rather astonishing when 
one considers that the company was made 
up of discontented people, for the only 
contented member of the union was the 
landlord, Grammelin. They had speech- 
making in the hall, at first from the tables 
and benches ; but that was to be altered. 
Thiel, the joiner, made a round sort of 


thing, which should serve for the speaker’s 
stand, and the first speech made from it 
was by Dreiern, the cooper, against Thiel 
himself, since he considered the thing to 
be rather cooper’s work than joiner’s work, 
and begged of the assembly protection for 
his trade. He did not carry it through, 
however, although it was apparent to all 
that the thing bore a striking resemblance 
to a cooling-vat for a brandy-still. The 
old stout baker, Wredow, also failed in 
carrying his motion that the cask should 
be made larger, since there was no room 
to move about in it ; for, as Wimmersdorf 
the tailor told him, the thing was not 
made for stout people ; they had had 
enough of folks who cared merely for their 
own comfort. The thing was meant for 
those who had nothing on their ribs, and 
it was large enough for them. And so it 
happened that only the lean people got a 
chance to speak, and the stout folks in 
their anger and vexation stayed away, at 
which the others declared themselves to 
be well pi eased. But it was a mistake, for 
in this way they expelled “ the quiet ele- 
ment ” — as it was called — from the 
union, and in their stead the day-laborers 
crowded in, and now they were ready for 
the revolution. The only two people of 
comfortable dimensions who still remained 
in the Reformverein, were Schultz the 
carpenter and Uncle Brasig. 

No one could be more contented, in 
these restless times, than Uncle Brasig ; he 
was always on the street ; he was like a 
bee, or rather a humble-bee, and looked 
upon every house-door and every window 
in Rahnstadt as a flower whence he could 
suck news, and when his appetite was sat- 
isfied he flew back to his place, and fed his 
friend Karl with his bee-bread : “ Karl, 
they have driven away Louis Philippe.” 

“ Is that in the papers ? ” 

“ I read it myself. Karl, he must have 
been an old coward. How is it possi- 
ble a king could let himself be driven 
away ? ” 

“ Eh, Brasig, such things have happened 
before. Don’t you remember about the 
Swedish Gustavus? When a people are 
all united against him, a king stands en- 
tirely alone.” 

“You are right there, Karl; but yet I 
wouldn’t have run away. Thunder and 
lightning ! I would sit on my throne and 
put the crown on my head, and kick 
and thrash with my arms and legs, if any 
one touched me.” 

He came later, saying, “ Karl, the post 
has not come again from Berlin, to-day, and 
your young Herr rode in splashing through 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


212 

the streets, up to the post-office, to make 
inquiries himself, and why not ? But it 
came near going badly with him, for some 
of the burghers were already plotting to- 
gether there, and asking themselves, by 
way of example, whether they ought to 
allow a nobleman to go splashing through 
the mud like that. Well, he rode off, 
afterwards, in quite a different manner, 
towards Moses’ house, and then the matter 
was dropped. I had a word to say to 
Moses, and went there shortly after, and as 
I came up he was just coming out of the 
door ; he looked at me, but did not know 
me ; not that I take it unkindly of him, for 
his head was full of his own affairs, for I 
could hear Moses saying, ‘What I have 
said, I have said : I will lend no money to 
a gambler.’ Moses is coming here, this 
afternoon.” 

So, in the afternoon, Moses came. “ Ha- 
bermann, it is correct, it is all correct 
about Berlin.” 

“ What? has it broken out there ? ” 

“ It has broken out, — but don’t say any- 
thing about it; this morning the son of 
Manasseh came to me from Berlin, trav- 
elling post; he is going to make a busi- 
ness of buying up old flint-locks, he has 
got some thirty thousand, left from the 
year T5.” 

“ What can he do with his flint-locks ? ” 
cried Brasig ; “ every educated person uses 
percussion locks, now-a-days.” 

“ What do I know ? ” said Moses. “ I 
know a good deal, and I know nothing at 
all. He thinks, when it begins, there will 
be a demand for the old muskets with the 
flint-locks, too, and he told me at Berlin 
they shot with flint-locks and sabres and 
pistols and cannon on the people, and it 
went ‘ Puh ! puli ! ’ the whole night, and 
the cuirassiers rode through the streets, 
and the people threw stones, and shot out 
of windows, and from behind the barri- 
cades. Terrible! terrible! but don’t say 
anything about it.” 

“ So there was a regular cannoniza- 
tion ? ” inquired Brasig. 

“ Good heavens ! ” cried Habermann, 
“ what times these are ! what dreadful 
times ! ” 

“ Why, what do you call dreadful times ? 
It is always bad times for the foolish, and 
always good for the wise. When we had 
good times, I had no reason for drawing in 
my money, and giving notice here and 
there. For an old man like me, these are 
good times.” 

“ But, Moses, have you no anxiety, when 
everything seems going to destruction? 
You are well known to be a rich man.” 


“ Well, I am not afraid ; my BlLimchen 
came and whispered to me, and David 
came, — he trembled like that, — and said, 

‘ Father, what shall we do with our 
money ? ’ ‘Do with it ? ’ said I, ‘ do as we 
have done. Lend, where it is safe, do 
business where it is safe ; we can be “ peo- 
ple” too, if it is necessary. Let your 
beard grow, David,’ I said, ‘ the times re 
quire it.’ ‘ Well, and when other times 
come ? ’ he asked me. ‘ Then you can cut 
it off again,’ I said, ‘ the times will not re- 
quire it then.’” 

The talk then turned upon Axel, and 
his difficulties, and the fact that money 
and credit were nowhere to be had, and 
there was much to say on that point, for if 
credit fell property must fall with it, and 
many a one would not be able to keep 
his estate. And when Moses was gone 
the two old farmers sat together through 
the evening, with the Frau Pastorin, and 
the talk wandered sadly, hither and thither, 
and the Frau Pastorin clasped her hands, 
once and again, over the wicked world, 
and, for the first time, thanked her Creator 
that her pastor had been taken away be- 
fore these evil times, and had not lived to 
see such unchristian behavior ; and Haber- 
mann felt like a man who has given up 
a fine business, which had grown very 
dear to him, and now sees his successor 
going to destruction. Brasig, however, 
did not allow himself to be dismayed ; he 
held up his head, and said these agita- 
tions, which were spreading over the whole 
world, were not merely the result of hu- 
man invention, our Lord had his hand in 
the business as much as ever ; at least, 
He had allowed it, and after the storm the 
air would be clear again. “And, Karl,” 
he added, — “I say nothing about you, 
Frau Pastorin, — but if I may advise you, 
Karl, you should come with me, to- 
morrow evening, to Grammelin’s, for we 
are not mere rebels, and do you know how 
it seems to me ? Just as it is in a stormy 
day ; if you stand in the house and look 
out, you shudder and shrink, but once out 
in the midst of the rain, you scarcely 
notice it.” 

So Brasig attended the Reformverein at 
Rahnstadt, and every evening came back 
to the house, and told what had happened « 
there. One evening, he came home later 
than usual : “ They have gone crazy, to- 
day, Karl, and I have drank a couple of 
glasses more beer than usual, merely on 
account of the great importance of the 
matter. You see, the day-laborers have 
all become members of the union, and 
Iwhy not? we are all brothers. And the 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


cursed fools have been planning that the 
whole limits of the town of Rahnstadt 
must be measured over again, and cut up 
into equal sections, and every one is to 
have just so much land, and every one is 
to have the right to cut down a beech- 
tree, from the town forest, for the winter ; 
then there will be regular equality among 
men. Then all who owned land got up ; 
they were for equality, but they wished to 
keep their property, and Kurz made a long 
speech about fields and meadows, and 
introduced the stadtbullen into them ; and 
when he had finished they reviled him 
for an aristocrat, and turned him out. 
And then the tailor, Wimmersdorf, stepped 
up, and discoursed about the freedom of 
the trades, and the other tailors attacked 
him, and belabored him unmercifully, they 
wanted equality, they said, but they must 
have guilds for all that. And a young 
man got up, and asked, mockingly, how it 
should be with the tailoresses ? Should 
they be admitted to the guilds, or not? 
And the old master tailors would have 
nothing of the kind, and then the young 
people declared themselves for the tailor- 
esses, and turned out the old tailors, and 
there was a great uproar outside ; and, in 
the hall, Rector Baldrian made a long, 
long speech, in which there was a great 
deal about the emanzipulation — or some- 
thing else — of the female sex, and he 
made the proposition, that if the master 
tailors would not admit the tailoresses 
into their guild, the tailoresses should 
establish a guild of their own, for they 
were as good human sisters as any other 
guild ; and that was passed, and the tai- 
loresses are a guild now, and I was told, as 
I was going out, the tailoresses would be 
out to-morrow, in white dresses, with 
their forewomen at the head. Karl, that 
old, yellow old maid who goes by here 
every day, that they always call a Tartar, 
should lead them to the rector’s house, 
and thank him, and in token of gratitude 
for his speech should present him with a 
woolen under-jacket and drawers, on a 
cushion.” 

“ Brasig 1 Brasig ! ” exclaimed Haber- 
mann, “ what nonsense you are talking ! 
One would think you had nobody above 
you, and that you could decide everything 
for yourselves.” 

“Why not, Karl? Who is to hinder 
us? We make our resolutions, as well as 
we know how, and if nothing comes of it, 
why, nothing comes of it; and nothing 
ever will come of it, in my opinion, for you 
see, Karl, the whole story comes to one 


213 

point; all will have something, and no- 
body will give up anything.” 

“ So it is, to be sure, Zachary, and I do 
not think, in this little city, there will be 
much harm done, for one party will 
always oppose the other; but, just think, 
if the day-laborers, in the country, should 
get the idea of dividing the estates, what 
would become of us then ? ” 

“ Eh, Karl, but they won’t do it ! ” 

“ Brasig, it lies deep' in human nature, 
this desire to call a little bit of our earth 
one’s own, and they are not the worst men 
who care the most for it. Look around 
you ! When the mechanic has laid up 
something, then he buys himself a little 
garden, a little field, and has his pleasure 
as well as his profit in it, and the laboring 
man in the city may do the same, for he 
has the possibility ; and for that reason, I 
do not believe the discontent of the labor- 
ers, here in the city, is of much conse- 
quence. But it is different with the 
laborers in the country ; they have no 
property, and, with all their industry and 
frugality, can never acquire any. If these 
opinions should spread among them, and 
ignorant men should attempt to carry 
them into effect, you would see, the conse- 
quences would be bad. Yes,” he cried, 
“ at first, it would begin merely among 
the bad masters, but who will be security 
that it shall not extend to the good 
also ? ” 

“ Karl, you may be right, Karl, for this 
evening Kurz told me, — that is to say, 
before he was turned out, — that, last Sun- 
day, a couple of Gurlitz laborers used very 
singular expressions at his counter.” 

“ Do you see,” said Habermann, and 
took up his candle to go to bed, “ I wish 
no evil to any one, though many may 
have deserved it, but it is sad that the 
good masters should suffer with the bad, 
and that the punishment, which falls justly 
here and there, should fall upon the whole 
country.” 

With that he went off, and Brasig said 
to himself, “ Truly ! Karl may be right, 
in the country it might go badly, I must 
go immediately to look after young Jochen 
and Pastor Gottlieb. Well, there is no 
danger about young Jochen, he has never 
said a word to his laborers, and they will 
say nothing to him, and the pastor’s Jurn 
is decidedly no rebel.” 

Habermann’s opinion of the people, with 
whom he had so long been connected, was 
just; through the whole country spread 
a restlessness, like a fever. The most 
well-founded complaints, and the most un- 
reasonable and shameless demands went 


214 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


from mouth to mouth, among the people, 
and what was at first lightly whispered 
was soon loudly spoken out. The masters 
were mostly to blame for it, themselves ; 
they had lost their heads, each one acted 
on his own hook, and selfishness became 
very evident, when each cared merely for 
his own interests, and, provided he could 
live in peace with his people, did not trou- 
ble himself about his neighbor. Instead 
of going forward, with a good conscience, 
in the old, friendly intercourse with the 
people, some masters cringed before their 
own laborers, and granted all their unrea- 
sonable demands ; others mounted the 
high horse, and would compel them with 
sword and pistol, and I have known some 
who would not ride about their own fields 
without a couple of rifles in the wagon. 
And why ? Because they had not a good 
conscience, and had long ceased to have 
any friendly feelings towards their people. 
Of course, this was not true of all masters, 
nor was it true of Axel ; he had never 
been unkind to his people, nor was he 
generally hard, but he could become so, if 
he believed his position as master to be in 
danger. Under such circumstances as the 
present, every one showed his true char- 
acter, and it required a very cool and 
experienced head to look over the whole 
tumult and trouble, hold oneself in readi- 
ness for action, and decide what was good 
and what was evil, and how one should 
steer his ship safely through these swelling 
waves. 

This was not the case with Axel, he sat 
in the midst of the whole confusion, and 
groped blindly about him for resources 
which he should have found in himself, and 
so it happened, that he committed both 
follies of the masters, now he would yield 
unwisely, and again the lieutenant of 
cuirassiers would get the ascendancy, and 
he would seize his pistols and sabre. The 
people were not what they had been, and 
that was his own fault ; for at one time he 
would deprive them of little things, which, 
from old custom, were dear to the heart 
of the small folk, and again, in a fit of 
good nature, he would give liberally all 
sorts of favors, and that made the people 
greedy, for he did not understand human 
nature, especially that of the small folk, in 
the country. He would praise the people 
when they had been idle, and scold them 
when they had been industrious, for he did 
not know how much they could bear. In 
short, he had not treated them in accord- 
ance with right and justice, but merely 
according to his own caprices, and because 
these had not lately been favorable, dis- 


content had increased among the day- 
laborers, and against such solid old oaks 
as would not easily burn, or let the flame 
kindle, was piled one dry fir-branch after 
another, until, at last, they begin to take 
fire. 

Every one knows that only diseased fir3 
afford such dry branches, and in Axel’s 
neighborhood stood such a diseased fir- 
tree, which was full of splinters, and that 
was Gurlitz. This tree had formerly been 
quite sound ; but, in spite of all Pastor 
Behrens could do to preserve it, it had de- 
cayed, for each of the several masters, whom 
they had exchanged for another, had taken 
away branch after branch, and the old tar- 
barrel, Pomuchelskopp, was really glad that 
it was diseased, and thought merely of the 
fat he could roast out of it ; for there are 
masters, — sad to say, — who prefer a bad 
state of things, among their day-laborers, 
to a sound one, and rejoice when they have 
their people at a disadvantage, because 
they can skin them the better. But Po- 
muchelskopp had not taken it into account 
that, when the lightning strikes such a dry 
tree, it will burn quicker and brighter than 
a sound one ; and the neighbors of our 
Herr Proprietor, who knew very well that 
the Gurlitz people were in a bad way, and 
often jested about it, never thought that 
the fire which Pomuchelskopp — of course 
without meaning it — had kindled for his 
own destruction, might also happen to 
scorch themselves, and Gurlitz might be 
the bonfire, from which the whole region 
should be kindled. The Gurlitz laborers 
had taken to drinking brandy, because 
there was a distillery at the court, and they 
could have brandy on credit, through the 
week, to be deducted from their wages on 
pay-day, and they were in the habit of 
running to the city, to spend every shilling 
— spare or not, — at the shops in Rahnstadt, 
and here they had learned what was going 
on in the world, and the shopmen had also 
instructed them how it ought to go on in the 
world, and then they came home, and put 
their besotted ignorance together, and 
kindled it with their greedy wishes, till it 
rose up in blue flames, and their half- 
starved wives and children stood behind 
them, like ghosts, and they thrust in the 
splinters of the dry fir-tree, — that is, 
their poverty and distress, — and ran with 
them about the neighborhood, and so they 
had kindled even the honest, tough old 
oaks. 

It did not blaze out openly, at first, 
there was much opposition to be over- 
come ; there were well-meant words of in- 
telligent people, there was the old depend- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


ence, there was the recollection of former 
benefits, there was the eternal justice, 
which holds out long, even in a diseased 
soul, and presses its sting into the con- 
science, and all this fell like cold rain on 
the glowing embers, and kept the fire from 
blazing out, even in Gurlitz. Had they 
been able to read the souls of their mas- 
ters, however, it would have blazed up 
merrily, for in Pomuchelskopp’s heart the 
common hatred and the most pitiable cow- 
ardice strove for the mastery, for his good 
conscience had long ago taken leave of 
him, and he could not rely upon his former 
kind treatment. At one moment he would 
cry out in rage, “ Oh, these wretches ! I 

should only There must be new laws 

made ! What have I to do with a govern- 
ment that has troops, and will not let them 
march ? What ! My property is in dan- 
ger, my government must protect my 
property.” And the next moment he 
would call his Gustaving in from the yard : 
“ Gustaving, you blockhead, why are you 
running about among the threshers, let 
them thresh as they please, I will have 
no quarrel with my people,” and he turned 
to his Hauning, who sat there, stiff as a 
stake, her sharp nose and her sharp eyes 
turned steadily in one direction, and not 
even shaking her head, “ Hauning, ” he said, 
“I know what you think, you mean I 
should let them see that I am the master ; 
but it won’t do, it really won’t do, Kliick- 
ing ! we must be careful, we must be care- 
ful, with great caution we may possibly 
pull through.” 

Hauning said nothing to this advice, but 
she looked as if, for her part, she had no 
intention of acting upon it, and Pomu- 
chelskopp turned to Malchen and Salchen : 
“ Children, I beg of you, not a word of 
what is spoken here ! Not a word to the 
servants ! and be friendly to the people, 
and beg your dear mama to be friendly 
also. Lord knows, I have always been for 
friendliness ! ” 

And then Malchen and Salchen began 
upon Hauning : “ Mama, you have’nt 
heard, you don’t know what is going on 
everywhere. Johann Jochen told in the 
kitchen how the laborers’ wives have 
scourged the proprietor Z. of X. with 
nettles. Mama, we must give in to 
them ; it won’t do.” 

“ You are all fools,” said Hauning, go- 
ing out of the' room. “ Shall I be afraid of 
such a pack ? ” and she closed the door. 
Bat in this condition of supernatural, he- 
roic courage, she stood quite alone, and 
without other help it was quite useless, 
for Muchel in his distress for the future, 


215 

would neither stir nor move, and the re- 
maining members of this simple family, 
for once, sided with their father. 

“ Children,” cried the father, “ every one 
must be treated kindly. The confounded 
wretches 1 Who would have thought of 
this, three months ago? Philipping and 
Nanting, you must not beat the village 
children any more, and don’t draw an 
ass’s head on the back of old Brinkman’s 
coat again ! These rascals 1 But they are 
set on by that cursed Rahnstadt Reform- 
verein, and by the Jews and the shopkeep- 
ers ; but wait a bit ! ” 

“ Yes, father,” said Salchen, “ and Ruhr- 
danz the weaver has already joined the 
Reformverein, and the rest of the villagers 
will all follow his example ; and it may be 
a bad thing.” 

“ Good heavens, I should think so ! 
But wait, I must get the start of them, L 
will join it myself.” 

“ You ? ” cried the two girls, in one 
breath, as if their father had proposed to 
sit fire to his house and home, with his 
own hands. 

“ I must, I must ! It will make me 
popular among the burghers, so that they 
will not excite the canaille against me ; I 
will pay up the tradesmen’s bills, and — 
yes, it must be done, — I will advance 
something to my day-laborers.” 

Malchen and Salchen were astonished, 
never in their lives had they heard father 
talk like that ; but they were still more 
astonished when father went on to say, 
“ And let me tell you one thing, you must 
be very civil to the Herr Pastor and 
the Frau Pastorin, — good heavens, yes! 
Mother won’t do it — Hauning, what 
trouble you make me ! The parsonage 
people can do us a great deal of good, or 
a great deal of harm. Ah, what can not 
a proprietor and a pastor accomplish, if 
they stand faithfully by each other, in 
these bad times! We must send them a 
friendly invitation ; by and by, when it is 
quiet again, we can drop the intercourse, 
if it does not suit us.” 

And sure enough! After a few days 
Pastor Gottlieb received a note containing 
the compliments of the Herr and the Frau 
Pomuchelskopp — for old Hauning had giv- 
en in on this point ; — to the Herr Pastor 
and the Frau Pastorin, and requesting the 
honor of their company to dinner. The 
man waited for an answer. Brasig hap- 
pened to be there, having come over to 
look after things a little. When Gottlieb 
read the invitation, he stood there, looking 
as if he had received a summons to the 
Ecclesiastical Consistory, to answer to 


216 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


charges of false doctrine, or immoral con- 
duct. “ What ? ” he exclaimed, “ an invi- 
tation from our proprietor? Where is 
Lining ? Lining 1 ” he called, out at the 
door. Lining came, read the letter, and 
looked at Gottlieb, who stood before her 
without a word, then she looked at Brasig, 
who sat in the sofa-corner, grinning like a 
Whitsun ox. “Well,” she said at last, 
“we cannot go, of course ? ” 

“ Dear wife,” said Pastor Gottlieb, — he 
always called her “ dear wife,” when he 
wished to throw the weight of his clerical 
dignity into the balance, at other times he 
said merely “Lining,” — “dear wife, you 
should not refuse the hand that your 
brother offers.” 

“ Gottlieb,” said Lining, “ this is not a 
hand, it is a dinner, and the brother is 
Pomuchelskopp. Am I not right, Uncle 
Brasig?” Brasig said nothing, he only 
grinned, he sat there like Moses’ David, 
when he had staked a louis-d’or, and wait- 
ed to see whether clerical dignity, or 
good, sound common sense would turn the 
scale. 

“ Dear wife,” continued Gottlieb, “ it is 
written, ‘ Let not the sun go down upon 
your wrath,’ and ‘If thy brother smite 
thee on one cheek,’ ” 

“ Gottlieb, that does not apply to this 
affair ; we have no wrath against him, and 
as for smiting on the cheek, I am of Brasig’s 
opinion. God forgive me the sin ! it may 
have been different in old times, but if it 
were the fashion now, there would be a 
great deal of grumbling in the world, for 
we should all go about with swollen 
cheeks.” 

“ But, dear wife ” 

“ Gottlieb, you know I never interfere 
in your clerical affairs ; but a dinner is a 
worldly affair, and one at the Pomuchels- 
kopps is more than worldly. And then, 
you quite forget, we have company. Isn’t 
Uncle Brasig here? And wouldn’t you 
rather dine here to-day, with Uncle 
Brasig, on pea soup and pigs’ ears than 
at Pomuchelskopp’s grand dinner? And 
they have not invited Mining either,” 
she added, as Mining entered the room, 
“and they know that Mining lives with 
us.” 

This decided Gottlieb, he liked pea soup 
and was particularly fond of pigs’ ears ; 
and I must say that he thought highly of 
Uncle Brasig, who had helped him so much 
and stood by him so faithfully, and one of 
his greatest clerical grievances was that 
such a man as Uncle Brasig, whose life 
was so honest and honorable, had yet so 
little the outward demeanour of a Chris- 


tian and churchman. So he declined Po- 
muchelskopp’s invitation, but when they 
had sat down to their pea soup, and Bra- 
sig came out recklessly with the informa- 
tion that he was really a member of the 
Rahnstadt Reformverein, Pastor Gottlieb 
sprang to his feet, regardless of the pigs’- 
ears, and delivered a regular sermon 
against the Reformverein. Lining pulled 
him by the coat, now and then, telling him 
that his soup would be cold ; but Gottlieb 

iiroa n rvf -f r\ Ko ^ivavforl • ^ VlA P.VIPfl. 


was not to be diverted : “ Yes,” he cried, 
“the vengeance of God has come upon 
the world ; but woe to the men whom 
he chooses as the instruments of his ven- 
geance 1 ” 

Since they were not in church Brasig 
ventured to interrupt him, inquiring whom 
the Lord had chosen for the purpose. 

“ That is in the hand of the Lord 1 ” 
cried Gottlieb. “ He may choose me, he 
may choose Lining, he may choose you.” 

“He will not choose Lining and me,” 
said Brasig, wiping his mouth, “ Lining fed 
the poor, in the year ’47, and I have, for 
several weeks, declared for equality and 
fraternity in the Reformverein; I am no 
avenger, I wouldn’t harm any man ; but if 
I could get hold of Zamel Pomuchelskopp, 
then ” 

Gottlieb was too excited to listen longer, 
and went on with his discourse : “ Oh, the 
devil is going about the world like a roar- 
ing lion, and every speaker’s stand, in 
these cursed Reformvereins, is an altar, 
on which sacrifice is offered to him ; but 1 
will oppose to this altar another ; in the 
House of God I will preach against this 
sacrificing to devils, against these Reform- 
vereins, against those false gods and their 
altars ! ” 

With that, he resumed his seat, and ate, 
hastily, a couple of spoonfuls of pea-soup. 
Brasig left him in quiet for a while ; but 
when he saw that the young clergyman 
had come back to worldly affairs sufficiently 
to attack the pigs’ ears, he said, “Herr 


Pastor, you are right in one point, the 


speaker’s stand at Rahnstadt looks uncom- 
monly like a devil’s altar, that is to say, a 
cooling-vat from a distillery; but I can’t 
say that sacrifices are offered to him upon 
it, unless Wimmersdorf the tailor does it, 
or Kurz, or your respected father, for he 
always makes the longest speeches, — no, 
don’t interrupt me ! — I was only going to 
say, so far as I am acquainted with the 
devil, and that is now a good many years, 
he would not meddle with the Rahnstadt 
Reformverein, for he is not so stupid.” 

“Gottlieb,” said Lining, “you know I 
never interfere with your clerical affairs, 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 217 


but you would surely not bring such a 
worldly matter as the Reformverein into 
the pulpit ? ” 

Yes, he would, Gottlieb said. 

“Well, then, go ahead I” said Brasig, 
“ but what people say, that of all men the 
pastors understand their business the best, 
is not true, for, instead of preaching in the 
people who don’t go to church, you will 
preach out those who do go.” 

And Uncle Brasig proved to be in the 
right, for when Gottlieb, one Sunday, 
preached with terrible zeal against the new 
times — of which, by the way, he under- 
stood about as much as if he had come 
into the world yesterday, — and against 
the Reformverein, and, the next Sunday, 
was going on with the business, only Lin- 
ing and Mining and the sexton were there 
to hear him, for a few old spinning women, 
who sat here and there, were not to be 
reckoned in the audience, since they did 
not come on account of the sermon, but 
only for the soup, which they got on Sun- 
day noons at the parsonage. So he went 
home, with his sermon and his women- 
kind, the old women followed with their 
soup-kettles, the sexton locked up the 
church, and Gottlieb felt like a soldier, 
who in his zeal has thrust his sword into 
the thick buckler of his enemy, and stands 
there without defence. 


So the times were bad, all over the 
country, every one’s hand was against his 
neighbor, the world was turned round, 
those who had something and had been 
boasters were become humble, those who 
had been counted wise were now thought 
foolish, and fools grew into wise men over 
night ; the distinguished were of no ac- 
count, noble' men gave up their nobility, 
and day-laborers were called “ Herr.” 

But two things ran like a thread through 
all this confusion of cowardice and inso- 
lence, which had power to comfort and 
cheer. One thread was gay-colored, and 
when one came near enough, and could 
free himself from the common anxiety and 
the common greediness, he could find much 
amusement in it, that was the ludicrous 
side of human nature, which turned up so 
clearly ; the other thread was rose-colored, 
and upon it hung everything with which 
one human being could make others happy, 
pity and compassion, sound common sense 
and reason, honest labor and self-denial, 
and this thread was love, pure human love, 
which is woven through the dull gray web 
of selfishness by helpful hands, as a token 
from God, that shall remain in the worst 
of times ; and who knows but this stripe 
may grow broader and broader till the 
whole gray web turn rosy red, for this 
thread, — thank God 1 — is never cut off. 


218 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Rexow was quiet. That means the 
day-laborers, Frau Nussler and Rudolph; 
young Jochen and young Bauschan were 
not so well off. Young Bauschan had 
taken a stroll through the cow-shed, and 
had observed there, under the care of old 
Flasskopf, the cow-herd, a droll- little beast, 
which seemed to him almost like a photo- 
graph of himself, and was also named 
Bauschan ; he could remember, from his 
childish years, the circumstances under 
which he had succeeded Bauschan the 
sixth upon the Rexow throne, and he at 
last came upon the gloomy thought that 
this copy of himself, so carefully brought 
up on sweet milk, by Jochen Flasskopf, 
was in training for some high destiny, and 
might possibly, under the name of Bau- 
schan the eighth, be his own successor ; it 
would be in accordance with the times. 
He was greatly troubled, and could not 
decide what to do, whether, under the pre- 
text that he could not accommodate him- 
self to the times, and preferred to associate 
Bauschan the eighth with himself, under 
the title of co-regent, he should share 
with him the rule of Rexow ; or whether he 
should treat him as a pretender, eat up 
his sweet milk, put fleas in his skin, and 
drive him out of the Rexow country, in 
short, declare war against him. 

He kept watch of Jochen, to see what 
should be the upshot of the matter; but 
young Jochen, in these days, had enough 
to think about in his own affairs, he also 
was in the greatest agitation, and the 
times were so bad, that these two old 
friends were no longer united, but were 
agitated from wholly different causes ; 
Bauschan looked upon a pretender to the 
crown as a great nuisance, Jochen posi- 
tively wished for one ; Bauschan looked 
with great disgust upon a private condi- 
tion, with gnawed bones, which he could 
no longer bite ; Jochen looked upon it as a 
golden cup, which Mining should fill for him 
with coffee in the morning, mother with 
strong beer at noon, and chocolate in the 
evening, and, when Brasig was there, with 
punch ; he wished to be rid of the sover- 
eignty, especially in such times as these, 
when one could not smoke his pipe in 
peace. He always read the “ Rostock 
Times,” but always threw it aside with 
vexation, saying to his wife, “ Mother, 
they say nothing yet about the geese.” 

He imagined he was counted all over 
the country as a hard-hearted master, be- 
cause, upon Rudolph’s advice, he had ex- 
changed the geese his day-laborers were 


accustomed to raise for a good piece of 
money, and he considered it the sacred ob- 
ligation of the “ Rostock Times,” which he 
had read now for over forty years, to take 
his part on the goose question. And in 
my opinion, the “ Rostock Times ” might 
very well have done so, but they may have 
forgotten the matter, or possibly never 
heard of it at all. But he came near go- 
ing distracted over it ; if two girls stood 
together chattering about their cap-rib- 
bons, he believed they were talking about 
the fact that no goose-eggs had been set 
in Rexow that year, and if two day-la- 
borers, threshing oats on the barn-floor, 
talked about their wages, he thought they 
were grumbling, because they had no 
geese at harvest-time, to eat the oats. He 
could not accommodate himself to these 
new times, and new methods of farming, 
and was positively decided to rule no 
longer; Bauschan, on the contrary, was 
quite unwilling to abdicate, and so, be- 
tween these two old friends, the egg was 
broken, and the bond was severed. 

Frau Nussler was, in spite of these wild 
times, very quiet, as I have said ; but Jo- 
chen’s condition made her anxious, and 
she often looked out for Brasig. “ I can- 
not imagine,” she said to Rudolph, “why 
Brasig does not come. He has nothing 
in the world to do, yet he does not look 
after me at all.” 

“Well, mother,” said Rudolph, “you 
know what he is ; if he has nothing to do, 
he makes something to do. However, he 
is coming to-morrow.” 

“ How do you know that ? ” 

“ Well, mother,” said Rudolph, hesitating 
a little, “ I was over in our rye this morn- 
ing, near the Gurlitz boundary, and I ran 
over to the parsonage a minute ; lie was 
there, and he will come to-morrow.” 

“Rudolph, you are not to go running 
over there so, I will not have it ; when I go 
with you on Sundays, that is another 
thing. There you go chattering and chat- 
tering, and putting all sorts of nonsense 
about weddings and marriage into Min- 
ing’s head, and nothing can come of it 
yet.” 

“Eh, mother, if we don’t get married 
before long, we shall both be old and 
cold.” 

“ Rudolph,” said Frau Nussler, as she 
left the room, “ what is to become, then, 
of Jochen and me? We are still young, 
and able to work, shall we be laid on the 
shelf? ” 

“Well,” said Rudolph to himself, when 
she had gone out, “ you are not so very 
young, after all. These old people can 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 219 


give themselves no rest! The old man 
might be willing, but the old woman 
would work three young ones dead. Well, 
Brasig is coming to-morrow ; I will have 
Brasig on my side.” 

And Brasig came. “ Good morning ! 
Sit still, Jochen ! Well, have you had a 
little rebellion here, already?” 

“Eh!” said Jochen, smoking furiously, 
“ what shall I do about it, Bauschan ? ” for 
he must ask Bauschan, since Brasig was 
already out of the room, and calling after 
Frau Niissler. 

“ Good gracious, Brasig ! ” said she, dry- 
ing her hands on her apron, for she had 
washed them hastily, not wishing to offer 
him a pair of doughy hands, for she had 
just been kneading bread, “ why do you 
never come near us, and in these dreadful 
times ? How is my brother Karl ? ” 

“ ‘ Bonus ! ’ as the Herr Advocate Rein 
says, or ‘ bong ’ as the greyhound says, or 
he is doing well, as I say ; only that he is 
always thinking of the destruction of his 
honest name, and the separation of his lit- 
tle Louise from Franz, and these inward 
wounds injure him, in every relation, so 
that he will have nothing to do with the 
Reformverein, and Parliament, and politi- 
cal matters.” 

“ Thank God ! ” said Frau Niissler, “ I 
know my brother Karl well enough to be 
sure he would have nothing to do with 
such fool’s play.” 

“Frau Niissler,” said Brasig, drawing 
himself up before his old sweetheart, “ you 
have spoken a very serious word, as Rector 
Baldrian said, lately, when we were talk- 
ing about the potato-land of the day- 
laborers ; but one must look well to his 
words, in these days, — they have already 
turned Ivurz out, — and I am really a 
member of the Reformverein at Rahnstadt, 
and have no pleasure in ‘fool’s play.’ ” 

“Well, I believe you will turn me out 
of my own kitchen yet ! ” said Frau Niiss- 
ler, putting her hands on her sides. 

“ Did I say that V asked Brasig. “ They 
have turned out Ludwig Phiiippe, they 
have turned out the Bavarian Ludwig, they 
have turned out Ludwig Kurz; is your 
name Ludwig? No, I came here to look 
after you, and if anything breaks out here, 
then I will come with the Reformverein, 
and with the Burgher-guard, — we have 
all got pikes, and some of us flint-locks, — 
and we will protect you.” 

“ Do you think I will have people com- 
ing into my house, with pikes and mus- 
kets?” cried Frau Niissler. “You may 
tell your infamous pack, they must first 
provide themselves with an extra set of 


arms and legs, for those they have now 
would get broken here.” 

With that, she turned away, went into 
her buttery, and locked the door behind 
her. Yes, it was a sad time ! even between 
this honest old pair, the devil had sowed 
his weeds, and when Brasig had stood a 
little while before the buttery door, as 
Bauschan often did, he felt very much like 
Bauschan when he was turned out, and he 
went back to the living-room with a down- 
cast air, and said to Jochen, “Yes, these 
are truly bad times ! And you sit there, 
and never stir hand nor foot ? And the 
rebellion has broken out in your own 
house ! ” 

“ Yes, Brasig, I know, said Jochen. 
“ That is on account of the geese ; but 
what can I do about it? Brasig, help 
yourself to a little kiimmel ! ” — and he 
pointed with his foot to the lowest shelf 
in the cup-board, — “ there is the bottle.” 

Brasig approved of a little kiimmel. 
Then he placed himself at the window, 
and looked out at the weather, and as the 
spring wind drove the April showers across 
the sky, and then the sun shone out again, 
so all sorts of dark stormy thoughts chased 
through his head : “ How ? ” said he, “ shall 
all that come to an end ? She thrusts me 
away, when I would help her ? ” and then 
again the sun shone out, but with a brief 
and mocking glance, which gave no warmth, 
and he laughed : “ Ha, ha ! I wish I Could 
see her fighting against the Rahnstadt 
Burgher-guard, with the tailor Wimmers- 
dorf at the head, and the shrewd old dyer, 
■with his ‘ Meins wegens ; ’ how they would 
scatter ! ” 

Rudolph passed through the yard, and 
seeing Brasig at the window, came in, as 
he wished to speak to him. 

“ Good day, Uncle Brasig ! ” 

“ Good day, Rudolph. Well, how goes 
it? I mean with the day-laborers. All 
quiet ? ” 

“ Oh, yes ! Nobody has made any dis- 
turbance as yet.” 

“ You shall see, about the geese,” inter- 
posed young Jochen. 

“ Eh, father, never mind the geese ! ” 
said Rudolph. 

“ What is it about the confounded 
geese ? ” inquired Brasig. 

“Oh, nothing,” said Rudolph. “You 
see, 'last year, I got so provoked, first with 
keeping them in bounds, then with their 
plucking the grass in the meadow, and 
afterward they got into the grain, so I 
called all the laborers together, and prom- 
ised every one four thalers, at harvest, if 
he would give up the goose business, and 


220 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


they accepted the offer, and now father 
has got it into his head that the people 
consider him a tyrant, and that a rebellion 
will break out, on account of the old 
geese.” . 

“ You shall see, Rudolph, the geese ” 

“ Good gracious ! ” cried Frau Nussler, 
coming into the room, “ always at the 
geese ! ” and, throwing herself into a chair, 
she put her apron to her face, and began 
to weep bitterly. 

“ Good heavens, mother, what is the 
matter ? ” exclaimed Rudolph, running up 
to her. “ What has disturbed you so ? ” 

“ What shall I do about it ? ” asked 
Jochen, and he also stood up. 

Brasig was going to say something, but 
restrained himself, for he knew better than 
the others what was going on in Frau 
Niissler’s 'heart ; he turned to the window, 
elevated his eyebrows, and stared out 
stiffly at the April weather. Frau Nussler 
sprang up, dried her eyes, pushed Rudolph 
and Jochen aside, — rather hastily, — went 
right up to Brasig, threw her arms about 
him, and said, “ Brasig, I know you meant 
it all right ; I won’t break anybody’s arms 
and legs.” 

“ Oh, Frau Nussler ! ” cried Brasig, and 
the April showers and sunshine were re- 
flected in his eyes, for his whole face 
laughed, while his eyes were dropping 
tears, “ Tailor Wimmersdorf and the old j 
crafty dyer, ‘ Meins wegens,’ may get 
their deserts from you, for all I care.” 

“ What does this mean ? ” cried Ru- 
dolph. 

“I will tell you,” said Brasig, gently 
freeing himself from Frau Niissler’s arms, 
and taking her by the hand. “ It means, 
that you have a real angel for a mother- 
in-law. Not one of the kind that you 
see at the balls, and promenading the 
streets of Rahnstadt. No ! but an actual 
angel, out of the Old Testament, such a 
valiant, brave old angel, who is not afraid 
of the devil himself, contending in a good 
cause, and can put you, sir, in her pocket, 
three times over ! ” and he looked at Ru- 
dolph, as if he was the cause of all* Frau 
Niissler’s distress. 

“ Good gracious ! ” exclaimed Rudolph, 

“ I have done nothing ! ” and he looked at 
Jochen, and Jochen looked at Banschan ; 
but Banschan did’t know, and Jochen did’nt 
know, and Rudolph cried out, “ I truly 
have not the least idea ” 

“ There is no necessity that you should,” 
said Brasig, and turned abruptly to Jochen ; 

“ and you, young Jochen, with your con- 
founded goose-business, you will bring 
your whole household into a dangerous 


revolution. You had better sit down, 
and keep quiet, and you, Rudolph, come 
with me, I will make a brief examination 
of your management, and see what you 
have learned with Hilgendorf.” 

That was a suitable employment for 
Jochen, and Rudolph obtained a fine op- 
portunity to urge Uncle Brasig’s assistance 
in his plans for a speedy marriage. It is 
possible that both of these reflections had 
occurred to Brasig. 

In the afternoon, Fritz Triddelsitz came 
riding up the yard. This time, he was 
mounted on a dapple-gray, which had a 
most singular gait, in front, he stepped out 
like a man, and as a general thing, went 
on only three legs ; from which one may 
perceive, that nature, in her intelligent 
way, often creates superfluities ; for in- 
stance, the tail of a piuscher,* the ears of a 
mastiff, and the left hind-leg of a schreiber 
koppel. Fritz’s dapple-gray was not 
handsome to look at, particularly when he 
was in motion ; but he was a courteous 
beast, he bowed all along the street, and 
he harmonized with Fritz, for he had 
grown very courteous, with his nobleman, 
and when some of his comrades joked him 
about his dapple-gray, he laughed in his 
sleeve : “ You blockheads ! I have profited 
finely by my trading, with the chestnut 
mare for the black, the black for the 
brown, and the brown for the dapple-gray ; 

I have made money every time by the 
bargain.” The dapple-gray came very 
courteously up the Rexow yard, Fritz 
dismounted courteously, entered the house 
courteously, and courteously said, “ Good 
day ! ” 

“ Mother,” said young Jochen, “ help 
Herr Triddelsitz,” — for they were just sit- 
ting down to coffee. 

“ God preserve us 1 ” thought Brasig, 

“ and is he called ‘ Herr * already ? ” 

Fritz took off his overcoat, pulled some- 
thing out of his pocket, and sat down to 
the table, laying down by his coffee-cup a 
pair of revolvers, which were just coming 
into use. 

“ Herr,” cried Brasig, “ are you pos- 
sessed with a devil ? What are you doing 
with those infernal shooting-machines 
among the coffee-cups ? ” 

Frau Nussler got up quietly, took the 
two pistols in one hand, and the tea-kettle 
in the other, poured hot water into the 
barrels, and said, very considerately : 

“ So ! they won’t go off, now ! ” 

“For God’s sake!” cried Fritz, “the 
only protection that we have ” 

* Species of dog. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


221 




“ Herr,” interposed Briisig, “ do you j 
think you are in a den of robbers, here at 
young Jochen’s?” 

“ The whole world is a den of robbers 
now,” said Fritz, “the Herr von Rainbow 
said that very distinctly yesterday, in his 
speech to the day-laborers ; and therefore 
I have been obliged to go to Rahnstadt, 
aud buy these two revolvers, — one is for 
him, — we will defend ourselves to the last 
drop of our blood.” 

Frau Niissler looked at Br'asig, and 
laughed a little bashfully ; Br'asig laughed 
heartily : “ And with these things, and 
with a speech from Herr von Rambow, 
you expect to stop the mouths of the 
day-laborers, and turn them to other 
thoughts ? ” 

“ Yes, we mean to do it ; my gracious 
Herr has spoken well to the people ; he 
will govern them mildly, but firmly, they 
may rely upon that.” 

“Well, it is all as true as leather,” .in- 
terrupted Jochen. 

“You are right, this time, Jochen; the 
tanning must be according to the leather, 
but the young nobleman is not the man, 
you shall see, to treat the timid with mild- 
ness, and the fainthearted with firmness.” 

“ And he has made another speech ? ” 
asked young Jochen. 

“ A capital one ! ” cried Fritz. “ How 
in the world he does it, I cannot imag- 
ine.” 

“ That is of no consequence,” said Br'a- 
sig, “ but what do the day-laborers say to 
their expectations ? ” 

“ That pack,” said Fritz, who had 
learned something besides politeness from 
his master, “ are not worth their salt, for, 
as I was crossing the yard afterwards, 
they were standing in groups together, 
and I heard them talking about ‘ flatterers/ 
and ‘ gee and haw management ’ ” 

“ They meant that for you,” said Br'a- 
sig, grinning. 

“ Yes, only think of it ! ” said Fritz in- 
nocently. “ And in the afternoon, five of 
them came to the Herr, just the ones I had 
thought the most reasonable of all, and 
old Fie gel, the wheelwright, was the spokes- 
man, and said they had been informed that 
Herr Pomuchelskopp had given his people 
an advance, and had promised them more 
potato-land, and other things besides, but 
they would say nothing about that, for 
they had never been so badly off as the 
Gurlitz people, and they were contented 
with what they got: but they were not 
contented with the way they were treated, 
for they were blamed unjustly, and scold- ( 
ed when they did not deserve it, and they 1 


j were driven back and forth, from the yard 
to the fields, so that they had no idea 
what they were to do, and it would be the 
best thing for the Herr von Rambow to 
let me go, for I did not understand how to 
manage the farm or superintend the peo- 
ple, I was too young. And if they might 
make a request, it was this, that they 
might have their old Inspector Haber- 
mann back again. Now, just think of it, 
such a set ! ” 

“ Hm ! ” said Br'asig, grinning all over 
his face. “ Well, what did the young Herr 
say ? ” 

“ Oh, he blew them a fine blast, and 
told them if he were contented with me, — 
and then he motioned toward me, where- 
upon I made a courteous bow, — then his 
masters the day-laborers might very well 
be contented also. You see, that old fel- 
low, Johann Egel, stepped up, — you know 
him, he is one of the oldest, with the white 
hair, — and said they were not masters , no 
one knew that better than they, and in 
coming to him as their master, they had 
acted from good intentions, and not be- 
cause they wished to use hard words. 
The Herr von Rambow was master, and 
he could do it or not, as he pleased.” 

“ He is a devilish cunning old . fellow,” 
said Br'asig, grinning more than ever. 

“Yes, only think of it ! But that was 
not all, by a long way ; the butt end came 
afterwards. Towards evening, I noticed 
one after another of the day-laborers 
going to the riding-stables, and as I knew 
that Krischan Dasel, our groom, had a 
pique against me, I thought, ‘ What can 
be going on there ? ’ and I went into the 
stables, and there is a hole between the 
riding-stable and the other stables, and I 
could hear Krischan Dasel exciting the 
others.” 

“That is ; t& say,” interrupted Briisig, 
“ that you listened a little.” 

“ Why, yes,” replied Fritz. 

“Very well,” said Br'asig, “ go ahead ! ” 

“Well, I must tell you. Krischan 
Dasel is positively bent upon marrying 
Fika Degel, and has been betrothed to her 
several years, and the Herr will not have 
a married groom, for he thinks a married 
groom would care more for his own chil- 
dren than he would for the colts, which is 
all right enough, but . he will not dismiss 
him, either, because he thinks he does well 
for the beasts ; though for my part, I don’t 
agree with him. And now Krischan Dasel 
has got it into his head, that if he can 
break up the raising of thorough-breds, 
1 and do away with the paddocks, the Herr 
1 will let him marry Fika Degel, and so he 


222 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 




was stirring up the day-labcrers to demand 
the paddocks for potato-land.” 

“Well, you ran directly to the Herr, 
and told him that ? ” inquired Brasig. 

“ Of course,” said Fritz, “ he ought to 
know it beforehand, so as to be prepared 
for them. And when they came, and be- 
gan about the paddocks and potato-land, 
and were of the opinion that their wives 
and children were just as good as the 
Herr’s mares and foals, and ought to be 
cared for first, then he scolded them 
finely, and packed them off immediately. 
Krischan Dasel, of course, was paid up and 
sent off at once.” 

“ Well, what does the gracious Frau say 
to all this ? ” asked Uncle Brasig. 

“ Eh,” said Fritz, shrugging his shoul- 
ders, “ what shall I say ? she says nothing 
to it. I don’t know what has come over 
her. She used to greet me, — rather cer- 
emoniously but still politely, — but now 
she never looks at me, ever since that stu- 
id book-business with Marie Moller. She 
as been gone, this long time, and it is just 
as well, for she was an old goose ; and now 
the gracious Frau attends to the house- 
keeping, herself, and, I must say, she is a 
good housekeeper, although she doesn’nt 
speak to me ; and Korlin Kegel says she 
does it only to divert her mind from other 
thoughts, and she often sits down, and 
writes letters, but tears them all up, and 
sits with her hands in her lap, gazing at 
the little gracious Fraulein. ‘ It is a pity,’ 
says Korlin Kegel. ‘ But the housekeep- 
ing goes on all right, and without any 
scolding and storming round; no, so it 
shall be, and so it is done. If she only had 
a friend or a companion,’ says Korlin 
Kegel, — well it is none of my business, — 
and he has no friends either.” 

“ But it is some of my business,” cried 
Frau Niissler, springing up, “and I will 
go and see her to-morrow, and you, Jochen, 
may as well go also and see that poor, 
foolish young man, and advise him for his 
good ; such times as these should bring 
neighbors together. 

“ Yes, mother,” said Jochen, “ what shall 
I do about it ? And then this old goose- 
business here ; but Gottleib and Lin- 
ing ” 

“To be sure,” cried Frau Niissler, “he 
helped them to their living, and we must 
not forget it of him.” 

“ Well, but he” said Brasig, looking like 
a sly old rascal, “ has he no friends ? 
What would the Herr Zamwell Pomuchels- 
kopp say to that ? ” 

“ Pomuchelskopp ? ” said Fritz. “We 
have nothing more to do with him” bring- 


ing out the word with great contempt, and 
bending dowp to Brasig he whispered, “ he 
has sued us, he has sent us notice for the 
money ; I know it from Zodick, from 
Moses’ Zodick. Yes, that pot is broken, 
and Slusuhr is coming constantly, now by 
letter, now in person ; but we have got 
one on our side, too, the advocate Rein, 
do you know him ? ” 

“ Oh, yes,” whispered Brasig, “ I know 
him, with his North pole, and Island of 
Ferro.” 

“ A confoundedly smart fellow, isn’t 
he ? ” asked Fritz. 

“ Yes indeed,” said Brasig, “ he can lead 
people by the nose finely. But,” he asked 
aloud, “ what has the young Herr decided 
about the day-laborers ? ” 

“ I will tell you,” said Fritz. “ We have 
both decided to defend our lives to the 
last extremity, and he sent me to Ralm- 
stadt, to get these revolvers.” 

“Well, and if the day-laborers come 
again ? ” 

“ Then we shall shoot,” said Fritz. 

“ Right I ” said Brasig, taking one of 
the revolvers in his hand, and playing with 
it, rather absently, “but Frau Niissler, 
you have made it all wet, it might get 
rusty,” and he wiped it on his coat-tails, 
and went to the window, as if to examine 
it more closely, while Fritz, meantime, 
explained to Jochen Niissler the construc- 
tion of the other. 

“Jochen, where is your tool-chest,” 
asked Brasig. 

Jochen pointed, with his foot, to the 
lower part of the cupboard. 

Fritz heard a sort of clattering behind 
him, and then a sharp noise, as if some- 
thing hard was broken, and, as he looked 
round, Brasig held out to him his revolver, 
without any cock, for he held that in the ' 
pincers, in the other hand : “ There ! ” 

“ Thunder and lightening ! ” cried Fritz 
springing up. 

“ So ! ” said Brasig, “ now you can’t 
shoot anybody with the thing.” 

“ Herr, how did you dare to ruin my 
revolver ? ” 

“Because you are a foolish boy, and 
children should not play with fire-arms.” 

“ You are an old ” 

“You want to say ‘jackass?’ And it 
is possible that I am, in meddling with 
you; but, Herr, I stand to you in the 
place of your aunt, and I have done this 
on her account.” 

“ My Herr gave me orders to buy these 
revolvers, and I do as he tells me.” 

“ That is all right, and here is one for 
your Herr; he can shoot with it, if he 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 223 


pleases, lie is accustomed to the business, 

— but you ” and as the thought of 

Habermann came into his mind he added, 
“ Infamous greyhound, have you not caused 
misery enough already ? ” 

Frau Niissler came to the rescue. 

“ Hush 1 Brasig, hush 1 Not a word of 
that! But you ought to be ashamed, 
Triddelsitz, to talk so lightly of shooting 
your fellow-creatures.” 

“ What ! ” cried Jochen, springing to his 
feet. “ Mother, is he going to shoot peo- 
ple dead ? ” 

And Bauschan also sprang up, with a 
couple of emphatic barks, and Fritz was 
so confused by this combined attack on all 
sides, that he forgot his politeness, threw 
on his overcoat, thrust the mutilated 
revolver into his pocket, with the other, 
and only turned round at the door to 
remark, with great emphasis, that no ten 
horses should ever drag him over that 
threshold again. 

“It will not be necessary,” observed 
Brasig, very quietly. But if he had heard 
Fritz’s figures of speech, as he rode bow- 
ing along the street, on old dapple-gray, 
and examined his ruined revolver, he 
would not have been so composed, for, 
compared with the titles of honor which 
Fritz generously bestowed upon him, those 
of the Emperor of Austria were of no 
account whatever. 

Fortunately he did not hear, and on the 
whole he did not care much that Fritz had 
laced the Niisslers’ house under the 
an ; but he had made the discovery this 
morning that the oldest friendships might 
be broken in such times as these, and he 
registered a solemn vow never, under any 
circumstances, to retreat upon the Rexow 
farm, with the Rahnstadt Burgher-guard. 
His confounded whims often ran away 
with him ; but his good heart kept close 
behind, and seized the reins directly ; 
Strife and confusion were very far from 
his intentions, he really wanted nothing 
but joy and peace ; although, by his pecu- 
liar conduct, strife and confusion were 
often produced. 

Towards evening, when Jochen and 
Bauschan had fallen comfortably asleep 
in the twilight, and it was a fine opportu- 
nity for a few sensible words, he began 
about Rudolph and Mining : “ Frau Niissler, 
there is an old proverb, that says : ‘ He 
who loves long, his love grows old, and he 
who’ ” 

“ Leave your stupid proverbs alone, 
Brasig, they are not suited to me, or to 
you ! I know what you want to say, and 
I understand that this cannot go on much 


longer ; but what is to become of him 
and of me ? ” 

“Frau Niissler, you mean young Jo- 
chen ” 

“ Hush, Brasig, name no namefe ! You 
might, for all him,” — pointing to Jochen 
— “ but on his account,” and she pointed 
to Bauschan, “ you must be very careful, 
for he is cleverer than all of us put to- 
gether. Just see, how he pricks up his 
ears.” 

“ Hm ! ” said Brasig, looking under 
Jochen’s chair, “ truly 1 but that need not 
hinder us. Frau Niissler, this business 
must come to a happy ending.” 

“ Yes, Brasig, I say so, myself, every day, 
but only tell me, what is to become of me, 
and of him ? ” pointing again to Jochen. 
“ When Mining and Rudolph get the con- 
trol, what shall I do, what shall he 
do?” 

“ Frau Niissler, you will have quiet 
days, and enjoy yourself in your descend- 
ants.” 

“That may be, Brasig, and one gets 
accustomed to everything, even to idle- 
ness ; but look at me, with all my house- 
keeping I grow stouter, every day, and if 
I should sit still in my chair I should soon 
be unable to move, and be a perfect mon- 
ster.” 

“ Frau Niissler,” said Uncle Brasig, 
standing before her, while the recollection 
of his youth came over him, “you were 
always handsome, and you always will be,” 
and he made a bow, and grasped her hand. 

“Brasig, that is a stupid joke!” said 
Frau Niissler, drawing her hand away, 
“ and just look at that old dog ! Hasn’t 
he sense enough to understand it? But 
we are not talking about me, now ; what 
shall become of him? I can do all sorts 
of handiwork ; but he, if he has nothing 
more to do ? ” 

“ He smokes tobacco, and sleeps,” said 
Brasig. 

“ Yes,” said she, “just at present, but 
he has altered fearfully, of late. I say 
nothing about the foolish old goose-busi- 
ness, for I can talk him out of that, but he 
has become so contrary, of late, he is al- 
ways disputing, and since he has had noth- 
ing to occupy his mind, he imagines the 
most foolish things.” 

“ Jochen ? ” asked Brasig, with much 
emphasis. 

“ Yes,” said Frau Niissler, “ but it is all 
over now. Look ! ” 

And Brasig, looking, saw Bauschan stand 
up, and whisk his rough tail across Jochen’s 
face, a couple of times, and Jochen raised 
himself up, and asked, quite distinctly, 


224 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 






l( Mother, what o’clock is it ? ” Then he 
recollected himself, and perceiving Brasig, 
said, “ Brasig, that is a clever fellow, that 
Herr von Rambow, he has been making a 
speech again.” 

Rudolph came in then, and candles were 
brought, and Brasig made a frightful gri- 
mace, across the table, at Rudolph ; but it 
was not meant badly, it was merely confi- 
dential, and signified, “ Keep perfectly 
quiet, rely wholly upon me, your business 
is going on well.” 

The evening passed slowly, for each had 
his own thoughts, and when it was bed- 
time Briisig was the only one who soon 
fell asleep ; Rudolph was thinking of Min- 
ing and the wedding, Frau Nussler of the 
dreadful times of idleness which awaited 
her, and Jochen of the geese, and Herr von 
Rambow’s speech. This last thought kept 
him waking all night, and when Frau Nuss- 
ler, towards morning, turned over on the 
other side, for a little nap, she saw Jochen 
fully dressed, going out of the door, with 
Bauschan at his heels. That this meant 
something, she was sure, but what, no 
mortal could tell. 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Young Jochen went with Young Bau- 
schan up and down the yard, and stopped 
frequently to rub his head, as if there were 
something he did not rightly understand. 
Bauschan also stood still, looked at Jochen, 
wagged his tail rather doubtfully, and sank 
back into his own gloomy thoughts about 
the co-regency. Rudolph came out. 

“ God bless you, father, are you up al- 
ready ? ” 

“ Yes, Rudolph, it is because of the old 
geese, ” — he had something more to say, 
but was not quite ready with it, and Ru- 
dolph said : 

“ Well, father, never mind the old story ; 
but I am glad you are up so early this 
morning, you can tell the bailiff what the 
people are to do ; I did not go over to the 
Pumpelhagen boundary yesterday, I will 
run over, and see how they are getting on 
with the ploughing. We are to do just as 
we did yesterday, manuring the potato- 
land.” 

“ Yes, Rudolph, but ” 

“ Yes, father, you will find it all right ; 

I must hurry, to get back in time,” and he 
was off. 

Jochen walked up and down again ; the 
day-laborers, meanwhile, were coming into 
the yard, and the bailiff, Kalsow, came up 
to Jochen. 

“Kalsow,” said he, “let the people all 
come together here, in a heap,” and with 


that he and Bauschan went into the house. 
The day-laborers, the housewives, and the 
farm-people all stood in a group before tho 
house, and asked, “ What are we to do ? ” 

“/ don't know,” said Kalsow, the bail- 
iff. 

“ Well, go in and ask him then 1 ” Kal- 
sow went in. Young Jochen was walking 
up and down the room, with Bauschan at 
his heels, for young Jochen had kept on his 
cap, and that was a token to Bauschan 
that his attendance was required. 

“ Herr,” said Kalsow, “ the people are all 
there.” 

“ Good 1 ” said Jochen. 

“ What shall we do ? ” asked Kalsow. 

“Wait,” said Jochen. 

Kalsow went out, gave the people orders, 
and they waited. After a little while, he 
came in again. 

“ Herr, they are waiting.” 

“ Good I ” said Jochen. “ Tell them to 
wait a little longer, I am going to make 
them a speech presently.” 

Kalsow went back, and said they must 
keep waiting, the Herr would make them 
a speech presently. 

The people waited ; but, as nothing came 
of it, Krischan the coachman said, “ Kal- 
sow, I know him, go in and remind him of 
it.” 

So Kalsow went in again, and said, 

“ Well, Herr, how is it about the speech ? ” 

“ Thunder and lightning ! ” cried Jochen, 
“do you suppose thoughts grow on my 
shoulders ? ” 

Bailiff Kalsow was frightened ; he went 
back to the people, saying, “ That was of 
no use, he was angry with me ; we must 
wait.” 

“ God bless- me ! ” said Frau Niissler to 
herself, in her store-room, where she was 
putting things in order, “what does it 
mean, that the people are all standing 
before the house ? ” and opening the win- 
dow she called out, “ what are you stand- 
ing here for ? ” 

“ Eh, Frau, we are standing here wait- 
ing.” 

“ What are you waiting for ? ” 

“ Eh, Frau, we don’t know ; the Herr is 
going to make us a speech.” 

“ Who V ” asked Frau Nussler. 

“ The Herr,” said Kalsow. 

“ What is he going to make ? ” asked 
Frau Nussler. 

“ A speech,” said Kalsow. 

“ He must be going crazy,” exclaimed 
Frau Nussler, dropping the window, and, 
running in to Jochen, she seized him by 
the arm, and shook him, as if to briug him 
to his senses. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


“ What do you want to do ? Make a 
speech ? What are you going to make a 
speech about ? About me, or about Ru- 
dolph and Mining ? ” 

“Mother,” said Jochen, — but he said it 
firmly, — “ about the geese.” 

“ God have mercy on you,” said 
Frau Niissler, quite beside herself, “if 
you say another word to me about the 
geese 1 ” 

“ What ? ” cried Jochen, setting himself 
up, for the first time in his life, against his 
wife. “ Cannot I make a speech ? They 
all make speeches, Herr von Rambow 
makes speeches, Pomuchelskopp, Brasig 
talks in the Reform-what ? am I not good 
enough ? ” — and he brought down his 
fist on the table, — “ wife, am I not 
master ? And shall I not talk about my 
geese ? ” 

Frau Niissler turned quite pale, stood 
there stiffly, looking Jochen in the eye, 
but said not a word, pressed one hand 
against her heart, and felt with the other 
after the door-latch behind her, and when 
she found it opened the door, and went 
out backwards, still with her eyes fastened 
upon Jochen, — as a lion-tamer does, when 
he sees that the beast has lost its respect 
for him. But, when she was outside, she 
threw herself down on a bench in the hall, 
and began to cry and sob terribly. Yes, 
the year 1848 was a dreadful year, no 
government was secure ; even in this, open 
revolt had broken out. 

Brasig came down stairs, singing and 
whistling ; but how suddenly he ceased, 
when he saw his old treasure in her 
grief ! 

“ May you keep the nose on your face ! 
What has happened ? At this time of day, 
Frau Niissler, half-past six, do you sit 
down and cry ? ” With that he threw 
himself on the bench beside her, and tried 
to pull away the apron from her face. 
Frau Niissler pushed away his hands. 
“ Frau Niissler, I beg you, for God’s sake, 
tell me what is the matter.” 

At last Frau Niissler said, with a heavy 
sigh, “ Jochen ! ” 

“ Good heavens ! ” cried Brasig, “he was 
perfectly well yesterday. Is he dead ? ” 

“ No indeed ; ” cried Frau Niissler, tak- 
ing away the apron, and turning her 
red eyes upon Brasig, “ but he has gone 
crazy ! ” 

“ God forbid ! ” exclaimed Brasig, 
springing to his feet, “ what has he been 
doing ? ” 

“ He is going to make a speech.” 

“ What ? Young Jochen make a speech ? 
That is a bad sign 1 ” 

15 


225 

“ Oh, Lord ! Oh, Lord ! ” lamented Frau 
N'issler, “ and the laborers are all standing 
out in the yard, and he has turned me out 
of the room, I don’t know how I came 
here.” 

“ This is going to extremes ! ” cried 
Brasig, “ but compose yourself, Frau 
Niissler, I am not afraid of him, I will 
venture to go in.” And he entered the 
room. 

Jochen was walking up and down, rub- 
bing his head. Brasig sat down near the 
door, and followed him with his eyes, but 
did not speak ; on the other side of the 
room sat Bauschan, who also followed his 
master with his eyes, but did not speak, — 
it was a very serious business, at least for 
Jochen and for Brasig ; Bauschan was 
tolerably composed. At last, Brasig asked 
very gently : 

“ What is the matter, Jochen ? ” 

“ I don’t know,” said Jochen, “ my head 
is so confused ; my thoughts are running 
every way, as when one shakes up a bushel 
of oats.” 

“ I believe you, Jochen, I believe you,” 
said Brasig, and looked after him again, 
as hp walked up and down. All at once 
Jochen stood still, and exclaimed angrily, 
“ How the devil can I think of a speech, 
with both of you looking at me like 
that ! ” 

“ So ! Do you want to make a speech? 
What do you want to make a speech 
for?” 

“ Brasig, am I any worse than other 
people? Are my laborers worse than 
other people’s laborers ? They want their 
satisfaction, in these hard times; but I 
am not exactly fitted for it, the business 
is too much for me ; you are quicker-wit- 
ted, do me a favor, and make one for 
me.” 

“ Why not ? ” said Brasig, “ if it is to do 
you a favor ; but you mustn’t disturb 
me ! ” and now Brasig walked up and 
down the room, and Jochen sat still, and 
looked at him. 

Suddenly the Herr Inspector opened 
the window, and called: “All come up 
here ! ” The day-laborers came up. 

“ Fellow-citizens ! ” began Brasig ; but 
— bang! — he shut down the window: 
“ Thunder and lightning, that won’t do ! 
They are only day-laborers, one can’t talk 
to' them as if they were burghers ! And 
now you see, Jochen, how difficult it 
is to make a speech, and will you meddle 
with a business, for which even I am not 
prepared ? ” 

“ Yes, Brasig, but ” 

“ Be still, Jochen, I know what you are 


226 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


going to say.” He went to the window, 
opened it again, and said, “ Children, each 
one go to his work, for to-day ; there will 
be no speech to-day.” 

“ Well, that is all the same to us,” said 
Kalsow, “ but the Herr ” 

“ He has been thinking about it,” inter- 
rupted Brasig, “ and he has decided that 
the spring is too early for it ; by and by, 
at harvest, he will make you a fine one.” 

“ Yes,” said Kalsow, “ that is the best 
way. Come then, people ! ” and they went 
to their labor. 

But now, as the coast was clear, Brasig 
turned towards Jochen, and all the digni- 
ty, which his body was capable of express- 
ing, was shown in his manner to Jochen, 
and all the influence he had exercised upon 
Jochen, in years past, now centered upon 
the poor kammerp'achter, as he said, 
“ What ? They call you crazy ? You are 
no more crazy than Bauschan and I ; but 
you are foolish. Why did your dear — I 
mean blessed — I mean cursed — parents 
bring you into the world? To make 
speeches, and frighten your dear wife out 
of her wits, who has nourished you at her 
bosom this five and twenty years, like a 
new-born child ? Come with me, this mo- 
ment, and beg her pardon, and tell her 
you will never do so again ! ” 

And Jochen would have done so ; but he 
was spared the apology, at least in the 
manner which Brasig demanded, for Frau 
Niissler entered the room : 

“Jochen, Jochen 1 How you distress 
me!” 

“ l£h, mother ” 

“ Jochen, you will be the death of me ! ” 

“ With your good-for-nothing speeches,” 
interposed Brasig. 

“ Mother, I will not ” 

“ Ah, Jochen, I believe you will not do 
it this morning ; but you have set yourself 
up, you shall see, it will happen again.” 


Jochen said no, he had had enough of 
it. 

“ God grant it ! ” said Frau Niissler, 
“ and that you may see that I can give up, 
too ; for all me, Rudolph may be married 
to-morrow.” 

“ So,” said Brasig, “ now there is peace 
in the house again, now everything is in 
order, now give each other a kiss ! One 
more, Jochen, that the left side of your 
mouth need not come short.” 

This was done, and Uncle Brasig trotted 
off directly to Gurlitz, that he might 
inform his little goddaughter Mining of 
her happy prospects. He took the nearest 
foot-path, and that was the one which the 
Herr Proprietor Muchel had stopped up, 
that it might not be public any longer ; 
but he had not succeeded in his design, 
for Gottlieb, at Brasig’s suggestion, had 
opposed it, and had gained the suit. 

As Brasig went along this path, he met 
the Herr Proprietor coming towards him, 
with a very friendly face in the distance, 
and as he came nearer he said, “ Good- 
morning, my dear ” but he got no 

further, for Brasig turned upon him, and 
without looking him in the face said, “ A 
certain person was going to have my boots 
pulled off, and let me hop about with bare 
legs, like a crow ; ” and with that, he 
passed on, without looking round. 

And when he had discharged his errand 
to Mining, at Gurlitz, and, after great 
rejoicing with his little rogues, Lining 
begged him to spend the day with them, 
although he must excuse Gottlieb, since it 
was Saturday, and he must write his 
sermon, he said, “ Frau Pastorin Lining, 
every one has his business, and if the Herr 
Pastor Gottlieb has a sermon to make, 
why shouldn’t I have one, too? For I 
must go to the Reform this evening ; ” 
and so he went back to Rahnstadt. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


227 


CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

When Brasig had opened his budget of 
news from Rexow and Gurlitz, and the 
Frau Pastorin and Habermann had no 
more questions to ask, he took flight 
again. 

“ You won’t take it unkindly, Frau 
Pastorin, or you either, Karl, but as soon 
as I can change my boots I must go to the 
Reform. You ought to come with me, 
Karl, we are going to elect a new presi- 
dent to-day, because the old one, as he 
says, can’t stand it any longer. I shall 
vote for the advocate Rein, — do you 
know him ? A capital man, a thoroughly 
good fellow, — but he makes jokes, to be 
sure ; and then we have a very important 
question for discussion, to-day, — Rector 
Baldrian says it is demanded by the spirit 
of the times, — we are going to find out 
how there comes to be such great poverty 
in the world. You ought to come with 
me, Karl.” 

But Karl would not go, and Brasig went 
alone. 

The first person upon whom his eyes 
fell, as he entered the hall of the Reform- 
verein, was — Zamel Pomuchelskopp, who, 
as he perceived Brasig, came right up to 
him, saying, “ Good-evening, dear brother, 
how are you, dear Zachary ? ” 

There were not many who observed how 
Brasig received this salutation, and those 
who saw it did not comprehend it clearly ; 
but shoemaker Bank had seen it, and told 
me about it. “Fritz,” said he, “see here, 
if you should look at the Herr Inspector’s 
face in a shoemaker’s glass, he looked like 
that ; the mouth was so broad, and the 
nose so thick, and his whole face looked 
like fire and fat, and as he put out one 
foot before him and said, ‘ Herr Zamwell 
Pomuchelskopp, I am no brother of yours,’ 
do you know what he looked like? Ex- 
actly like the old Sandwirth Hofer, of 
Tyrol, when he is to be hung on the wall 
by Landlord Voss, at Ivenach, only that 
he had no musket in his hand. And then 
he turned his back to him, and such a 
back ! and went up to the election-table, 
and gave his vote for the new president, 
and said aloud, through the hall, ‘ I vote 
for the Herr Advocate Rein, for our busi- 
ness must be pure (rein), and if any dirty 
fellows come in here they must be turned 
out.’ No body understood what he meant ; 
but they were all still as mice, for they 
knew something had happened ; and as he 
went through the hall they all made room 
for him, for he looked like a mad bull; 
but he seated himself quiely at the other 


end of the hall, and all the members of the 
Reformverein know what happened after- 
wards.” 

This is what Hanne Bank told me, and 
I believe him, for he was a good friend of 
mine, and an honest man, although he was 
only a shoemaker ; he was sent to a bloody 
grave, in his best years, by a good-for- 
nothing scoundrel, because he stood up for 
the right, and although it may be out of 
place here, I will write it, that the memory 
of such an honest man and good friend 
may be honored elsewhere than on his 
tombstone. 

So Zachary Brasig seated himself at the 
farther end of the hall, and sat there like 
a thunder-storm, ready at any moment to 
break loose. The advocate Rein was made 
president, he touched the bell, crawled 
into the cask, and returned thanks for the 
honor, and finally said, — 

“Gentlemen, before we begin our dis- 
cussion of the poverty-question, I have the 
pleasure to announce to you that the Herr 
Proprietor of Gurlitz proposes himself as 
a member of our Reformverein. I believe 
there is no one who will oppose his admis- 
sion.” 

“ So ? ” cried a terribly spiteful voice 
behind him, “ are you so sure of that ? I 
beg for a word or two,” and as the new 
president turned round, there stood Uncle 
Brasig, by the cooling-vat. 

“ Herr Inspector Brasig has the floor,” 
said the president, and Uncle Brasig stuffed 
himself into the cooling-vat. 

“Fellow-citizens,” he began, “how long 
is it, since we declared for Liberty, Equal- 
ity and Fraternity here at Grammelin’s ? 
I will say nothing about Liberty, although 
I cannot stir my body in this confounded 
cask ; nor will I speak of Equality, for our 
new president gives us a good example of 
that, since he always goes about in a gray 
coat, and not, like certain people, in a 
blue dress-coat with gilt buttons ; but I 
wish to speak of Fraternity. Fellow- 
citizens ! I ask you, is that Fraternity, 
when a man wants to pull off his brother’s 
boots ? and when a man will let his fellow- 
creature run about in the snow, like a 
crow, or if the snow is gone, in the mud ? 
and a man boasts himself against another, 
and makes game of him ? I ask you, is 
that Fraternity? and I tell you Herr 
Zamwell is such a brother as that. And I 
have nothing more to say.” 

He came down from the speaker’s stand, 
and blew his nose, as if he were sounding 
a trumpet over his speech. 

Tailor Wimraersdorf then took the floor, 
and said the Rahnstadt Reform must con- 


228 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


sider it a great honor to have a proprietor 
among them ; so far as he knew, it was the 
only one, for the Herr von Zanzel, al- 
though he owned an estate, and was a 
member, was not to be counted, for he made 
no purchases in Rahnstadt, and had noth- 1 
ing to do with them. He voted for the j 
Herr Proprietor. 

“ Bravo ! ” resounded through the hall. I 
“ Wimmersdorf is right ! Neighbor, you j 
are right ! How shall we live, if we don’t 
keep on good terms with such people ? ” 

“ That is not my opinion,” said Schultz, 
the carpenter, creeping softly up into the 
cask, like a fat snail, out of its shell, and 
he looked like one, for all the world. 

“ Stuff and nonsense, tailor Wimmersdorf, 
stuff and nonsense ! Did the Gurlitz 
potentate trouble himself about us, did he 
pay up our bills, before he needed us? 
Why does he stand here in the hall, when 
his admission has been opposed ? Hasn’t 
he modesty enough to go out ? But no ! 
And why ? Because he is a Great Mogul. 

I say, out with him, out ! ” and the snail 
crept into its shell again. 

“ Out ! out ! ” cried several voices, and 
others cried, “ Speak again ! Go on ! ” 
and a rascally shoemaker sung out in a 
clear voice, — 

“ Snail, snail, come out of your shell! 

Stick out your horns, we know you well! ” 

But Schultz the carpenter would not 
come, he knew very well that he should 
only weaken the impression his speech 
had made ; he preferred to strengthen it, 
he stood with Brasig, behind the scenes, 
and both called, “ Out ! out ! ” and they 
would certainly have gained their point, 
had not the devil pushed forward David 
and Slusuhr, into the cooling-vat, each 
with a moustache, to signify that they 
were excessively liberal. They sung Po- 
muchelskopp’s praises with psaltery and 
harp ; he was a helpful angel, said Slusuhr, 

— “ Yes, a fat angel,” cried that rogue of 
a shoemaker, — he had helped many a 
poor family here in Rahnstadt, — he said 
nothing about the ten per cent, interest, 

— and he would do much more for the city. 

David began the same song, a little col- 
ored with saffron and spiced with garlic. 

“ Gentlemen 1 ” said he, making a low bow 
to the roguish shoemaker, who received it 
very quietly, “ bethink yourselves, think 
of the good of the whole city 1 In the 
first place, there is the Herr Pomuchels- 
kopp himself, in person, then there is the 
gracious Frau Pomuchelskopp, — a fear- 
fully clever woman, — then there are the 
Frauleins Salclien and Malchen, and the 


Ilerr Gustaving and the Herr Nanting 
and the Ilerr Philipping, and then come 
the Fraulein Mariechen and the Fraulein 
Sophiechen and the Fraulein Melaniechen, 
and then come the little Herr Krischaning 
and the little Herr Joching, and then comes 
the youngest of all, — well, wait a moment, 
I am not through yet, — and then come 
the house-maids, and the kitchen-maids, 
and the nurse-maids, and the swine-maids, 
— and I don’t know how many more, — 
and then come the coachman and the 
grooms, and the herdsmen, and they all 
want something. Why should they not 
want something ? Everybody has his 
wants. And they need coats and they 
need trousers, and they need shoes and 
boots, and they need stockings and shirts 
and jackets; and when it is cold they need 
warm coats, and when it is warm, they 
need cool ones, and when Palm Sunday 
comes, and they go to be confirmed, they 
must have nice coats, and on Christmas — 
good heavens ! I have always said this 
Christ must have been a great man, what 
an amount of business has he introduced 
into the world by Christmas ! And all 
these things we make, and sell in our shops. 
But who buys them of us ? The Herr 
Pomuchelskopp buys them of us. I have 
nothing more to say.” 

And it was not necessary, for, as he fin- 
ished his speech, all the tailors and shoe- 
makers were, in imagination, making boots 
and shoes and trousers and jackets for the 
little Pomuchelskopps, and the shopkeep- 
ers were disposing of their remnants to 
Muchel, and Kurz had, in anticipation, 
sold him half his stock in trade. 

But in spite of this, Brasig and the car- 
penter Schultz still cried, “ Out with him ! 
Out ! ” and the other side cried ; “ Let 
him stay ! ” “ Out with him ! ” “ Let him 
stay ! ” And there was a dreadful uproar. 
The material interests represented by the 
Pomuchelskopp’s boots and trousers, rose 
up in opposition to the ideal fraternity; 
it was a hard fight. At last the bell from 
the president’s desk quieted them suffi- 
ciently for the Herr President Rein to 
make himself heard. 

“ Gentlemen,” said he — “ Out with 
him ! ” “ Out with him ! ” “ Let him 

stay ! ” — “ Gentlemen,” he began again, 
“Thank God ! ” — “ Out ! out!” “Let 
him stay ! ” — “ Thank God ! the opinion 
of the assembly has expressed itself so de- 
cidedly, that we can proceed to a vote. 
So ; let all those who are in favor of ad- 
mission go to the musician’s gallery ; those 
who are opposed, go to the speaker’s 
stand.” 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


The Rahnstadt Reformeverin put itself 
in motion ; every one trotted off as fast as 
he could, to show his decided opinion, and 
it sounded, from a distance, as if a fulling- 
mill were in full progress at Grammelin’s, 
and the result of this quiet proceeding 
was soon manifest, for Grammelin rushed 
into the room, crying, “Herr President! 
Children ! I beg of you go to some other 
place, or vote in a more quiet way ! ” 

“Eh, what?” said Thiel, the joiner; 
“ we must vote ! Else it is no Reform.” 

“ I know that, Thiel, but you are voting 
so hard, that the plaster is all tumbling 
down from the ceiling.” 

They perceived by this that they were 
going a little too fast ; and from that time, 
they did not attempt to vote with their 
feet ; but only with their hands. 

The votes were counted ; Pomuchels- 
kopp was admitted as a regular member 
of the Reformverein. Schultz the carpen- 
ter turned to Brasig, and asked, over his 
shoulder, “ Well, if it comes to this, 
Herr Inspector, what will become of Ger- 
many ? ” 

“ It is all one to me,” said Brasig ; “ but 
don’t talk to me of your Fraternity ! ” 

Now the poverty-question came upon 
the carpet, and after the president had ex- 
plained the question, the Rahnstadt Re- 
formverein took it up for discussion : How 
poverty came to be in the world, and why 
it remains here.” 

The first who rose was Rector Baldrian. 
He came up from behind, like all the rest, 
into the speaker’s stand, but piled up a 
great heap of books before him, as high as 
his shoulders, to create a favourable opinion 
of himself, in the minds of the audience. 
As he had arranged the Bible and Xeno- 
phon, and Plato and Aristotle, and Livy 
and Tacitus, and all that he had on hand 
of Cicero, he made a bow, and said those 
were his reserves. 

“ Gossip,” said Johann Bank to the shoe- 
maker, Deichert, “ this will be tedious ; we 
know what he is, come and have a glass 
of beer.” 

Then the rector began, and proved first, 
from the Bible, that in very old times 
there was poverty amon^ the Jews. 

“ That is not so ! ” cried an eager voice 
from the crowd, “the confounded Jews 
have all the money there is; they know 
well how a poor man feels.” 

The rector did not let himself be dis- 
turbed, he proved the matter from the 
Bible, and then took up Xenophon, and 
told about the Helots in Sparta, but the 
assembly did not seem quite to understand 
it. Upon that, he opened Plato, and be- 


229 

gan on him, that is, on the “ Republic,’* 
and said that if the Rahnstadters had such 
a state of things as Plato had planned for 
the Athenians, every laborer in Rahnstadt 
could have roast beef and potatoes for 
dinner every day, and could ride in a 
coach Sunday afternoons, and the chil- 
dren, who now went begging about the 
streets, would go with gold chains around 
their necks, instead of beggars’ sacks. 

“Let him tell us more about that!” 
“ Three cheers for Plato ! ” sounded 
through the hall. “ Gossip, is that the old 
Jew-grinder Platow, who is blind of one 
eye V ” 

“ Eh, gossip, I knew him well enough ; 
he has bought many a piece of beef of 
me,” said Kr'auger, the butcher. 

The president’s bell produced quiet, 
and that rogue of an advocate Rein 
turned to the rector, and begged, in the 
name of the assembly, that he would 
have the kindness to give the Rahnstadt 
Reformverein a particular account of the 
Platonic Republic. 

That was a hard request, and the 
sweat ran down the poor old rector’s 
•face, as he began three times, and three 
times broke down, for he was far from 
having a clear idea of it himself. He 
finally said, in his distress, the Platonic 
Republic was a republic, and what a re- 
public was his hearers, so well educated 
in political matters, knew very well. 
Well, everybody knew that ; and then the 
rector got off among the Romans, and told 
something quite different, how sometimes 
the old Romans got hungry, and how 
they clamored loudly for panem et cir - 
censes. “ Panem, my dear hearers,” said 
he, “signifies bread, and circenses, open- 
air plays.” 

All at once, shoemaker Deichert sprang 
up on a bench, and cried, “ That is what 
I say ! The old Romans were no fools ; 
and what they did, we Rahnstadters can 
do, any day ! What ? when I and Bokel 
and Jiirendt and all the others are sit- 
ting at Pfeifers, playing vingt-et-un, shall 
the burgomeister come and take away 
our cards, and send us and Gossip Pfeifer 
to the Rath-house, and make us pay a 
fine and costs ? What ? I say, like 
the old Romans, free, open play for 
all!” 

“You are right, there, gossip,” cried 
Jiirendt, “ three cheers for the old Romans 
and the Herr Rector ! ” And the others 
echoed : “ Hurrah ! hurrah ! ” 

The rector acknowledged the compli- 
ment to himself and the Romans by a 
bow, and as he noticed that the presi- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


230 

dent glanced frequently at the clock, he 
hastened to finish his speech, and con- 
cluded with these words : “ My respected 
hearers, if we consider poverty at the 
present time, we shall find that it is only 
the children of poor people, and of the me- 
chanics, who go begging in our city.” 
With that he retired, carrying off his “ re- 
serves ” under his arm. 

He was followed by Johann “ Meins- 
wegens.” “ Gentlemen,” said he, “ I am, 
meinswegens,* a dyer,” and thereupon he 
extended his two hands over the cask 
with so much emphasis that the whole 
Reformverein was astonished, — “ I used 
to go to school to the Herr Rector, and 
he is right, we must have a republic, 
meinswegens Plato’s, meinswegens some- 
body’s else; but what the Herr Rector 
said about the mechanics, that is a sin 
and a shame ; I mean, meinswegens, the 
mechanics and not the Herr Rector. 
Gentlemen, I have, meinswegens, trav- 
elled into strange countries as a journey- 
man mechanic — ” 

“You sat in the chimney-corner, with 
your mother,” cried a voice from the 
crowd. 

“ What ? I have been as far as Birn- 
baum in Poland, and, meinswegens, far- 
ther still, ever so far! as true as the 
sky is blue, and on the word of an hon- 
est blue dyer,” and he smote on his 
breast. “ And, gentlemen, I could, meins- 
wegens, keep two journeymen, only 
that, unfortunately, indigo is so dear.” 

“ Oh, you rascal I You color with log- 
wood ! ” cried shoemaker Deichert. 

“ That is a stupid joke ! ” cried Jo- 
hann. 

“ What, indigo ? Hear ! ” cried several 
voices, “ he colors with logwood ! ” 

“Yes,” cried the roguish shoemaker, 
“one can easily tell the women-folk that 
he colors for, they look like tar-barrels, 
the old logwood gives such a strong 
color.” 

“ Young man,” asked Johann, in a very 
superior way, “have you, meinswegens, 
ever looked into my dye-tub ? ” 

“ You should hold your tongue, when 
we are talking about poverty ; you are 
well enough off,” cried another. 

“ Gentlemen, meinswegens, that is a 
stupid joke ! It is true, I have built my- 
self a new house ” 

“ Of logwood,” cried the shoemaker. 
“ Of logwood ! ” repeated the others. 

“ No ! no ! ” cried the dyer, “ of fir wood, 
with oaken beams ! ” 

* • ‘ Meinswegens ” — “ for all I care.” 


“ Of logwood ! ” cried the others. 

“ Gentlemen,” began Johann once more, 
very impressively, raising himself up, and 
striking his breast with his blue fist, “I am, 
meinswegens, a Rahnstadt burgher, and I 
have no more to say.” 

“ That is enough ! ” cried several. 

“ Then do as you ought ! ” cried the 
day-laborers, “ down with the blockhead, 
he tells us nothing but what we know 
already.” 

And Johann “ Meinswegens ” was 
obliged to come down from the platform. 

Then came Kurz : “ Fellow-citizens ! We 
are to discuss poverty, and my honored 
predecessor has been speaking of indigo. 
That is a pretty business ! Why should 
we poor merchants pay taxes, if every 
dyer may get his own indigo, and my 
honored Herr Predecessor can only do this, 
because no one can overlook his cards, and 
see how much indigo he uses, and how 
much logwood ! ” 

“You look at the cards, yourself!” 
cried a voice behind him, — he looked 
round, right into Briisig’s face, but was 
not disconcerted, and went on: “For he 
can buy his indigo cheaper of me than 
even at Rostock. But, fellow-citizens, 
about poverty — if it goes on like this, we 
shall all become poor.” 

“ He is right there, gossip,” said shoe- 
maker Deichert to Johann Bank. 

“ Fellow-citizens, I purchased myself an 
express wagon and a horse, to send home 
my goods, and also to make a little 
profit.” 

“We common people don’t care about 
your little profits ! ” interrupted Fritz 
Siebert, the carrier. 

“ But,” Kurz went on, “ what happened ? 
They laid an attachment on my wagon, 
last year, at Teterow ” 

“Because you had not paid the tax,” 
again interrupted Fritz Siebert. 

Kurz did not mind such little interrup- 
tions as these, for he had been turned out 
once, and he was a persevering character, 
so he went on : “ Our Herr Burgomeister 
sent for me, and asked me what sort of a 
wagon I sent my goods home in. ‘ In my 
own wagon,’ I said. ‘ So, per se ? ’ said he. 
‘ No,’ I said, ‘ not per sea, Rahnstadt is not 
a seaport; per land-carriage.’ Then he 
laughed, and said he had expressed himself 
in Latin. F ello w-citizens, what are we com- 
ing to, when the magistrates express them- 
selves in Latin, and attachments are levied 
on horses and wagons ? That is the way 
to poverty. How shall we merchants live 
on the small profits we get on coffee and 
sugar, tobacco and snuff? ” 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


“ Don’t talk about your cursed snuff I ” 
cried shoemaker Deichert, “ it has given 
me a nose like that ! ” and he held up his 
fist before his face ; but he did not have a 
chance to say more, for everybody laughed, 
as they saw his natural nose peeping out 
on both sides of his fist. 

“Fellow-citizens!” said Kurz, again, “I 
know, very well, there must be poverty, 
but it should be of a reasonable kind ; I 
mean, so that every one may be able to 
take care of himself, and not be a burden 
to other people. But is that possible, un- 
der the sad state of things in our city ? 
Fellow-citizens! for some years, I have 
been striving against the unjust privileges 
which certain people have obtained, and 
in wmch they have been protected.” 

“ Gossip,” said Thiel, the joiner, to 
Jiirendt, “you see, he is coming to the 
stadtbullen. There he must stop, baker 
Wredow is my brother-in-law.” 

He was right. “ Fellow-citizens ! ” cried 
Kurz, “ I mean the stadtbullen, these ” 

“ Down with him 1 ” cried Thiel, the 
joiner. 

“ Yes, down with him ! ” echoed through 
the hall. 

“ We will hear nothing of bulls and 
cattle ! ” cried several voices. 

“ He grudges everybody the least 
profit ! ” cried Fritz Siebert. 

“ He wants it all for himself, even the 
stadtbullen ! ” y 

The president struck his bell emphati- 
cally, Kurz drew himself up in the stand, 
and made one more attempt: “Fellow- 
citizens ! ” 

“ Eh, what, fellow-citizens ? ” cried Thiel 
the joiner and Deichert the shoemaker, 
and pulled the unlucky tradesman down 
backwards, by the skirts of his coat, out 
of the cooling-vat, so that he gradually 
disappeared, and only his two hands 
trembled for a moment on the rim of the 
cask, as if he were drowning, and smoth- 
ered sounds arose, “Stadtbullen — bullen 

— bullen — bullen ” Then all was 

silent, and Kurz fell half fainting into Bra- 
sig’s arms. Brasig and the carpenter car- 
ried him out. 

“ I wish you would hold your confounded 
tongue ! ” said Uncle Brasig, as he dragged 
Kurz into the next room, and got him into 
a corner, “ do you want to be turned out 
again ? ” and the two old fellows planted 
themselves to the right and left of Kurz. 
and stood there like the two men in the 
“Wild Man’s gulden,” who keep watch 
over a springing lion, lest he should attack 
the people; only the two old boys went 
more sensibly to work than the wild men, 


231 

and each had a pipe in his hand, instead 
of a club. 

Meanwhile, Fritz Siebert was showing 
that poverty came from the turnpike tolls; 
the turnpike tolls must be given up ; and 
tailor Wimmersdorf made a very reasonable 
proposition ; something must be done for 
the poor, and he could think of nothing bet- 
ter at the moment, than to write down the 
grand-duke’s castle, at Rahnstadt, as “ na- 
tional property ; ” if that could be sold, a 
good bit of poverty might be remedied. 
This was carried, and seven men went off 
to the castle, with Grammelin’s stable lan- 
tern, and a piece of chalk, to attend to the 
business. 

“Krischan,” said a voice behind Po- 
muchelscopp, “ I like that. You can write, 
— you shall write, to-morrow evening, on 
the door of our master’s house.” 

Pomuchelskopp looked round — the voice 
struck him as familiar — right into the 
face of one of his own Reform day-labor- 
ers, and the cursed rascal had the impu- 
dence to nod. He had very peculiar feel- 
ings ; he had no idea what to do ; whether 
to play his trump of master, or to try fra- 
ternity again. Something must be done, 
he must at least get the Reformverein on 
his side ; and when Brasig and Schultz re- 
turned to the hall, after having frightened 
Kurz into going home, the president was 
saying : 

“ Herr Pomuchelskopp has the floor.” 

Pomuchelskopp pressed slowly through 
the crowd, shaking Thiel’s hand by the way, 
clapping Wimmersdorf on the shoulder, 
and speaking a few friendly words to the 
roguish shoemaker’s apprentice. When he 
had squeezed himself into the cask, he be- 
gan : “ Gentlemen ! ” 

Well, that always makes a great im- 
pression, when a blue dress-coat with 
bright buttons addresses a laborer’s frock, 
and a mechanic’s soiled coat, as “ Gentle- 
men! ” and a murmur went through the 
hall : “ The man is right ! He knows how 
to treat us ! ” 

“ Gentlemen ! ” said Pomuchelskopp, 
once more, when the murmurs ceased, “ I 
am no orator, I am a simple farmer ; I have 
heard better speakers here, ” — and he 
bowed to the rector and Johann “Meins- 
wegens,” and tailor Wimmersdorf, Fritz 
Siebert also came in for a share, on ac- 
count of the turnpike tolls, — “I have also 
heard worse,” — and he glanced at the 
door where Kurz had been carried out, — 
“but, gentlemen, I have not been drawn 
to you by the speeches , so much as by the 
sentiments which I find here.” 

“ Bravo, bravo l ” 


232 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


“ Gentlemen ! I am all for Liberty, all 
for Equality, all for Fraternity ! I thank 
you for admitting me into this noble 
union.” Here he drew a white handker- 
chief from his pocket, and laid it down be- 
fore him. “ Gentlemen, you have been 
talking about poverty. Many a silent 
hour have I spent in thinking upon this 
subject, through many a sleepless night 
have I wearied myself with the question 
how this evil could be averted,” — here he 
wiped the sweat from his face with the 
handkerchief, probably to show what a 
difficult matter he had found it, — “ that is 
to say, gentlemen, poverty in our small 
towns, for our day-laborers in the coun- 
try know nothing of poverty.” 

“ So ? ” cried a voice from the rear. 
“ Krischan, it is time now, speak up ! ” 

“ Our day-laborers,” continued Pomu- 
chelskopp, not allowing himself to be dis- 
turbed, although he knew the voice well 
enough, “ receive a free dwelling and gar- 
den, free pasturage for a cow, hay and 
straw for the same, wood and peat, and 
land for potatoes and flax, as much as they 
need; once a week, alternately, a bushel 
of barley, a bushel of rye, or a thaler, and 
all the chaff from the threshing-floor, and 
the housewives can earn five shillings a 
day. Now, I ask you, gentlemen, is any 
day-laborer in the city as well off? Ought 
a day-laborer to require any more ? ” 

“ No, no I ” cried the city laborers. 

“ Gentlemen,” said Stosse Rutschow, 
“I am a journeyman carpenter, and I 
never get more than nine groschen a day, 
the summer through, and one groschen of 
that goes to the master ; I would rather 
be a day-laborer with Herr Pomuchels- 
kopp.” 

“ Donkey ! ” cried Schultz the carpen- 
ter, “have you worked at all, this whole 
spring V You have been loafing about ! ” 

“ Quiet ! quiet ! ” cried the people. 

“ Gentlemen ! ” Pomuchelskopp went 
on, “ this is the way our day-laborers are 
situated, and look at their treatment ! 
Any day-laborer can give notice at any 
time, and seek another place ; isn’t that 
honest ? isn't that satisfactory ? ” 

“ Krischan, speak, it is time ! ” again cried 
the voice in the rear. 

“ Gentlemen ! ” said Pomuchelskopp, 
drawing to a close, “ I am heartily agreed 
with this noble union in its sentiments, 
and on this subject of poverty in.the small 
towns, and you shall see — I am not a rich 
man, but what I can do shall be done. 
And now, gentlemen, I ask your assistance 
and protection; if city and country are 
true to each other there will be order, 


and we can arrange and settle everything 
in a peaceable manner, in this noble Re- 
formverein. Long live the Rhanstadt Re- 
formverein ! ” 

“ Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Long live the 
Reformverein ! ” echoed from every cor- 
ner of the hall. 

“ Long live Herr Pomuchelskopp ! ” 
cried several voices, and Muchel, with a 
bow and a very friendly demeanor, went 
back to his place. 

As he turned round, the speaker’s stand 
was already occupied, and Zachary Brii- 
sig’s red face shone upon him, not like a 
peaceful sun or moon, but like a fiery me- 
teor, which the Lord sends into the world 
as a sign of his righteous judgments. 

“ Fellow-citizens ! ” he cried, and made a 
grimace at his fellow-citizens, as if he had 
devoured two of them for breakfast that 
morning, and would now select a nice, 
fat one for his supper, — “ Fellow-citizens ! 
if the Herr Zamwell Pomuchelskopp had 
stayed quietly at home in Gurlitz, I would 
not have said a word ; if he had not pre- 
tended to be friends with me, here in this 
very hall, and had not on this grand 
father-land platform,” here he struck on 
the cooling-vat, “ told such confounded 
lies, I would not say a word.” 

“ You must not talk like that ! ” cried 
tailor Wimmersdorf, “that is all non- 
sense ! ” 

“If tailor Wimmersdorf considers my 
speech nonsense,” said Brasig, “he can 
stop his ears, for all I care ; he is much too 
stupid for me to notice ; and now he can 
go and complain of me if he likes, I am 
Inspector Brasig.” 

“ You are right ! Go on ! ” cried the 
people. 

“Fellow-citizens, I should have said 
nothing at all, for I hold it for a very un- 
suitable thing, in an agriculturist or any 
other man, to stir up the laborers against 
their master ; but when such a — ” 
“ Great Mogul,” interposed Schultz, — 
“ stands up on this altar of fraternity to 
deceive this Reform with lies, and glorify 
himself, and make false representations of 
the happiness of his laborers, then I will 
speak out. Fellow-citizens! my name is 
Inspector Zachary Brasig.” 

“ Bravo ! bravo I ” 

“ The Herr Zamwell Pomuchelskopp 
has told you that there is no poverty to 
be found in the country, he has regulated 
all the conditions of the day-laborer so 
wisely — bonus ! as our honored Herr 
President Rein says; but, fellow-citizens, 
these day-laborers’ conditions are some- 
thing like roast beef and plum pudding; 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


they are very nice, but we can’t get them. 
For example, and merely prceter propter , 
take the houses ! Close by Gurlitz is a 
sort of pig-pen, which passes for a house, 
and Willgans lives there, — is Willgans 
here ? ” 

Willgans was not there. 

“No matter. The roof has not been 
mended these three years, and the rain 
runs in overhead, and when there is a 
hard storm, the living-room is flooded, 
and the poor little children must wade 
round like frogs, while their father and 
mother are away at work, and when he 
complained about it Herr Pomuchelskopp 
said his name was Willgans (Wild-goose), 
and water was suitable for geese.” 

“ Fie ! fie 1 He ought not to say that ! ” 

“ And now about the free pasturage, 
and the hay for the cow ! Where is the 
pasturage ? Half a mile from the village, 
on the out-field, where nothing grows but 
goat’s-beard, and among the fir-trees, and 
can the women go back and forth three 
times a day to milk? Well they don’t 
need to go so often as that, for eighteen 
laborers, out of the one and twenty, have 
lost their cows, from one complaint or 
another, and the three that are left are 
real dancing-masters.” 

“ The fellow is a Great Mogul ! ” cried 
the carpenter, “ out with him ! out ! ” 

“ Quiet, quiet ! Go on again ! ” 

“ Yes, fellow-citizens, I will go on. 
About the wood and peat ! The peat is 
moss-peat from the bog, and crumbles 
apart, and gives no heat, and the wood is 
fir-brush, and scattered branches, which 
the children carry home on their shoul- 
ders ; and then the potato and flax land ! 
Where is it? In the out-fields, on the 
worn-out soil. How is it manured ? Only 
by the birds, and when one looks at his 
few potatoes, at harvest, he clasps his 
hands above his head, and says, ‘ God 
preserve us! Shall the family and the 
pig live on those all winter ! ’ But they 
do not live on them, they steal. They 
don’t steal from Pomuchelskopp, for they 
would pay too dear for it, but they steal in 
the neighborhood, and a good friend of 
mine, Frau Niissler, has given orders that, 
if the Gurlitz laborers are caught stealing 
potatoes there, they shall let them go, for 
they do it from necessity, and they are to 
be pitied ! ” 

“Hurrah for Frau Niissler!” said Jo- 
hann Bank, and “ Hurrah ! ” was repeated, 
again and again. 

“ And the flax ! ” continued Brasig, “ so 
long 1 ” — measuring about a foot on his 
arm, — “ so that even the Herr Notary 


233 

Slusuhr himself, who is a particular friend 
of Herr Pomuchelskopp’s, once made the 
bad joke in my presence, that the women- 
folk at Gurlitz wear such short dresses, 
because the flax is too short to make long 
ones.” 

“ He is an infamous donkey,” cried the 
carpenter, “to be cracking his jokes at the 
poor ! Out with him ! ” 

“ Fellow-citizens 1 ” began Brasig afresh, 
“ I will only say, the house, the cow-pas- 
ture, and the wood and peat, and flax and 
potato land are, for the laborers in the 
country, their roast beef and plum pud- 
ding, they are very nice; but they can’t 
get them, and therefore there is poverty in 
the country. But how does it come about 
in the city ? Fellow-citizens, I will tell 
you, for I have lived here long enough, 
and have studied human nature : the great 
poverty in the city comes from the great 
destitution here ! ” 

With that, he made a bow, and took his 
leave, and “ Bravo ! ” resounded through 
the hall : “ The man is right ! ” “ Long 
live Inspector Brasig ! ” 

And then President Rein dismissed the 
assembly, saying that after such a speech 
no one could have anything more to say ; 
and they all came up and congratulated 
Brasig, and shook hands with him all at 
once, all except Pomuchelskopp and the 
city musician, David Berger ; the one had 
stolen away quietly, and the other had run 
home to call together his fellow-musicians, 
and when Brasig stepped out of Gramme- 
lin’s door, there stood seven brass instru- 
ments before him, in a semi-circle, and 
opened fire on him at once, with “ Hail to 
the chief ! ” and David Berger had his spec- 
tacles on, and was conducting with Gram- 
melin’s billiard cue, so that Uncle Brasig 
must look out for his head. And the 
Gurlitz laborers stood around him, in a 
body, and weaver Ruhrdanz said, “ Don’t be 
afraid, Herr Inspector, you have stood by 
us, and we will stand by you.” And as 
Brasig was escorted by this festive proces- 
sion, across the market, and through the 
streets of Rahnstadt, these poor, despised 
people followed him in trust and rever- 
ence, for it was the first time that the 
world had troubled itself about their dis- 
tress and sorrow, and the feeling that one 
is not wholly forsaken works more good 
in the human soul than any amount of 
admonitions. 

Before the Frau Pastorin’s house, Brasig 
made a short speeoh to his guard of honor : 
he regretted that he could not invite them 
in, but it would be unsuitable in a clerical 
house, for he lived with the Frau Pastorin; 


234 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


but he hoped they would all meet him at 
Grammelin’s, to-morrow evening, over a 
bowl of punch. They received this with 
a “ Hurrah ! ” and when Brasig had gone 
to bed, after telling Karl the whole story, 
the Rahnstadt glee-club sang under his 
window, 

“ Laurels wave where the warrior sleeps,” 


and on the road to Gurlitz went the day- 
laborers, in serious mood ; and old weaver 
Ruhrdanz said, “Children, listen to me! 
We will get rid of him ; but not by force, 
no ! in all moderation, for what would 
the grand-duke and the Herr Inspector 
Brasig say, if we should show our grati- 
tude for his speech by making fools of 
ourselves ? ” 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER XXXIX. 

After church next day, for it was Sun- 
day, Kurz came in to see Habermann and 
Briisig : 

“ Good day ! good day ! I am angry ; 
nothing but vexations the whole day ! 
What ? Such a set of people 1 Won’t let 
a man speak at all ! Eh, one might bet- 
ter keep swine than be a democrat ! They 
listen to the stupidest speeches, and cry 
‘Bravo,’ and give serenades, disturbing 
people out of their sleep, and when one 
tries to make an important subject clear 
to them, do they drum and pipe then? 
and they call that a Reformverein ! ” 

“ Listen to me, Herr Kurz,” said Brasig, 
stepping up to him, fully two inches taller 
than usual, “ it is very unbecoming in you, 
to sneer at that serenade, for that sere- 
nade was given to me, and you would have 
been turned out again, if the well-meaning 
Herr Schultz and I had not taken you 
under our protection. What ? What 
does the old proverb say ? ‘ When it is the 
fashion, one rides to the city on a bull ; ’ 
but it is not the fashion in the Reform- 
verein, and if one persists in riding in 
and rampaging about on a bull, the peo- 
ple won’t stand it, and they turn him out, 
with his bull, for the Reformverein is not 
designed for such purposes.” 

“It is all one to me!” cried Kurz, 
“ other people rode in on donkeys, and 
were treated with great distinction.” 

“You are a rude fellow!” cried Uncle 
Briisig, “ you are an impertinent rascal ! If 
this were not Karl Habermann’s room, I 
would kick you down stairs, and you 
might carry your bones home in a bag.” 

“ Hush, Briisig, hush ! ” interposed Ha- 
bermann, “ and you, Kurz, ought to be 
ashamed of yourself, to come here stirring 
up strife and contention.” 

“ I had strife and contention last even- 
ing; I have had strife and contention all 
day long. This morning, when I had 
hardly opened my eyes, my wife began 
with strife and contention ; she is not wil- 
ling I should go to the Reformverein.” 

“ She is quite right, there,” said Haber- 
mann, seriously, “ you are not a fit person 
to go, for, with your hasty, inconsiderate 
behavior, you do nothing but mischief ; ” 
and leaving him he went over to Brasig, 
who was running up and down the room, 
puffed up like an adder: “Brasig, he 
couldn’t have meant it so.” 

“ It is no consequence to me, Karl, what 
such an uncouth, malicious, miserable 
beast thinks of me. Riding in on a don- 
key ? Fie, it is nothing but the meanest 
envy.” 


235 

I “I did’nt mean you ! ” cried Kurz, run- 
| ning up and down the other side of the 
room, “ I meant my brother-in-law, Bal- 
drian, and the dyer, and the other block- 
heads. And is’nt it enough to drive one 
crazy ? First, the quarrel with my wife, 
about the Reformverein, then a quarrel 
with my shop-man, — he slept till nine 
o’clock thi3 morning, was out singing on 
the streets last night, and at the beer- 
house, till four o’clock; then a quarrel 
with the stable-boy and the horse-doctor, 

— my saddle-horse has got the influenza, 

— then another quarrel with my wife, she 
don’t want me to have anything to do with 
farming.” 

“ There she is right again,” interrupted 
Habermann. “ All your farming amounts 
to nothing, because you don’t understand 
it.” 

“ So ! I don’t understand it ? Nothing 
but vexations ! Afterwards the stupid 
servant maid, she put on a table-cloth for 
dinner that came down to the floor ; well, 
we sit there, a customer rings, I am pro- 
voked with the shop-man because he 
doesn’t start up immediately, start up my- 
self, catch the table-cloth between my feet, 
and pull off the soup-tureen, and the whole 
concern, on the floor. Do you see, then 
my wife comes, and holds me fast, and 
says, “ Kurz, go to bed, you are unlucky 
to-day ; ” and every time that I get angry, 
she says, “ Kurz, go to bed ! ” It is 
enough to drive one crazy.” 

“ And your wife was right again,” said 
Habermann, “ if you had stayed in bed, 
you would not have come here to make 
trouble.” 

“ So ? ” cried Kurz, “ did you ever lie 
! in bed all day, with sound limbs, merely 
| because it was an unlucky day ? I will 
j never do it again, no matter how much 
| my wife begs me. One worries himself to 
! death ! She took away my boots and my 
j trousers, and I lay there and fretted, be- 
cause I could not get up, if I wanted to.” 

Uncle Brasig began to laugh heartily. 

“Well,” said Habermann, “then you 
| came over here, and got vexed again.” 

“ Eh, how ? ” said Kurz, “ I did’nt mean 
| that at all, I only came over to ask you 
I two Herr Inspectors if you would go with 
1 me to my field, and see if it was ready for 
ploughing.” 

Through Habermann’s persuasions the 
quarrel was made up, and the three farm- 
ers went to the field, Kurz making close 
calculations, and reeling off his agricul- 
tural phrases, while Briisig said to him- 
self, “ Who is riding on the donkey now ? ” 
I “I have a piece of ground here,” said 


236 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


Kurz, “ measuring a hundred and fifty 
square rods, and I have bought ten cart- 
loads of manure from Kranger the butcher, 
real, fat, slaughter-house manure ; I am 
going to plant beets ; I had it strewed 
yesterday ; is’nt that enough, gentlemen ? 
Look here ! ” and he turned out of the 
road into the field. 

“Very badly strewed!” said Brasig. 
“ A properly manured field should look like 
a velvet cover,” and he began to poke the 
lumps apart with his stick. 

“ Never mind,” said Kurz, “ something 
will grow, it is good slaughter-house 
manure, cost me ten thalers.” 

All at once he stood stock still, caught 
at. the air with his hands, and looked wildly 
around him. 

“ Good heavens ! ” cried Brasig, “ what 
is the matter ? ” 

“ Thunder and lightening ! ” cried Kurz, 
“the devil is in it! This is not my field, 
this next one is mine, and that confounded 
rascal has gone and put my manure on an- 
other field ! And I told him to do it ! 
Ten thalers ! And the carting ! And the 
strewing 1 Isn’t it enough to make one 
crazy ? ’ 

“ Eh, Kurz, that is not so bad,” said 
Habermann, “that can be settled, your 
neighbor will be good-natured, and pay 
for the manure.” 

“ That is the very thing ! ” cried Kurz. 
“This is baker Wredow’s field, whom I 
have such a quarrel with about the stadt- 
bullen ; he had better take care ! ” 

“ There’s a farmer for you,” said Brasig 
very quietly, “ carting his manure into 
other people’s fields ! ” 

“It is enough to drive one crazy ! ” cried 
Kurz, “but I will save what I can,” and 
he ran to the boundary of the field, and 
began tossing the lumps of manure over 
into his field with his stick, and worked 
away, until he was out of breath with 
exercise and rage, and then he threw his 
stick across the field, and panted out the 
words : “ I will have nothing more to do 
with it ! Why didn’t I stay in bed ! When 
I get home, and get hold of that rascal of 
a boy, — children, I beg you, hold me fast, 
or something dreadful will happen ! ” 

“ Rely upon me,” said Brasig, “ I will 
hold you,” and he caught him by the coat- 
collar at once. 

“ But what was the stick to blame for ? ” 
said Habermann, going to pick it up. 
'•Something stuck fast to the stick, Kurz 
had thrust it through, with his working, 
and thrown it away with the stick; the 
old man was going to shake it off, but as ! 
he looked at it, he stood still. Brasig had 


been occupied with Kurz, and had not 
paid attention to his old friend, and he 
now called. 

“ Come, Karl, we are going ! There is 
nothing to be made of this business.” 

He got no answer, and as he looked at 
his friend, he saw him standing, with some- 
thing black in his hand, which he regarded 
with fixed attention, not turning nor 
moving. 

“ Good heavens, Karl, what have you 
there ? ” cried Zachary Brasig, going 
towards him. Still he got no answer, 
Habermann, pale as death, was looking 
at that which he held in his hand, and 
which made his features quiver with agi- 
tation. 

“ Karl, Karl ! What have you found, 
what is the matter ? ” 

And at last the words burst from Haber- 
mann’s struggling breast : “ That packet ! 
This is that packet ! ” and he held out to 
Brasig a piece of waxed cloth. 

“ What ? What sort of a packet ? ” 

“ Oh, I have held it in my hand, I have 
seen it for years, waking and dreaming ! 
See, here is the von Rambow coat of arms, 
here are the marks on the cloth. It was 
put together like that, it was of that size ! 
It was put up so, with the two thousand 
thalers in gold ! This is the packet, which 
Regel was sent to Rostock with. 1 ’ 

All this came out as disjointedly, anx- 
iously and confusedly, as when one talks 
in a dream, and the old man seemed to be 
so overpowered by excitement that Brasig 
sprang towards him, and held him, but he 
held the cloth fast, as if it had grown into 
his heart, and Brasig raised himself, to 
look at it nearer, — Kurz came up also, 
without noticing any thing remarkable, 
for he was not yet over his vexation : 
“Well,” he exclaimed, “now, tell me, isn’t 
it enough to drive me crazy ? There lies 
my manure, there lies my ten thalers, on 
baker Wredow’s field.” 

“ Thunder and lightning ! ” cried Brasig, 
“do leave your confounded manure in 
peace ! Your talk is as bad as the stuff 
itself. There is your cane, — we must go 
home. Come, Karl, recollect yourself. 1 ’ 

And when Habermann had taken a few 
steps, the color returned to his face, and a 
restless agitation and a driving haste came 
over him, he began to ask after this thing 
and that ; of whom Kurz had bought the 
manure, when it was loaded, how it was 
loaded, what sort of a man the butcher 
Ivrauger was, and then he stood still, and 
| folded the packet together, and looked at 
' the creases in the cloth, ffiid at the seal, 
while Kurz quite forgot his anger, and 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 237 


wondered what had came over the old in- 
spector, that he should take so much inter- 
est in his manure and his ten thalers. At 
last Briisig told him about the matter, but 
he made him promise with a fearful oath, 
that he would not repeat a word of it, to 
any one ; “ For,” said he, “ you are one of 
the people whose tongues run away with 
them.” J 

And then they stood together in the 
street, and deliberated how the wrapper 
of the packet could have come into the 
butcher’s yard, and Kurz, as well as Br'asig, 
was of the opinion, that it was impossible 
the butcher could have anything to do 
with the business, — he was too respecta- 
ble a man. 

“Yes,” said Habermann, and the old 
energy and decision and judgment, which 
he had seemed to lose in his trouble and 
grief, had quite come back to him, “ yes, 
but a neighbor might have thrown it over 
there. Does the butcher live alone in the 
house ? ” 

He had tenants in the back part of the 
house, Kurz said, but he did not know who 
they were. 

“I must go to the burgomeister,” said 
Habermann, and as they came back into 
the town, he went to his house. Kurz 
would have gone with him, but Br'asig 
held him back : “ We two have lost noth- 
ing.” And as he said farewell to him, at 
his own door, he added, “ You belied me 
to-day in the most shameful manner ; I 
have forgiven you, however, the ‘riding 
on a donkey ; ’ but if you breathe a word 
about Karl Habermann’s business, I will 
wring your neck for you, — you confound- 
ed old syrup-prince, you ! ” 

Habermann found the burgomeister at 
i home ; he told him about his discovery 
and laid the waxed cloth together in the 
previous folds, while the burgomeister 
grew more and more attentive, and finally 
said : 

“ Yes, to be sure, to be sure ! I had 
the packet in my hand, also, when I gave 
the messenger his pass ; the examination, 
that followed immediately, fixed it clearly 
in my memory, and if I were called as a 
witness, I must testify that it is the same, 
or one exactly like it. But, my dear Herr 
Habermann, the trace is still too indis- 
tinct ; for example, the butcher certainly 
can have nothing to do with the business, 
he is one of our best citizens ; it is not to 
be thought of.” 

“ But there are other people in the back 
of the house.” 

“ That is true, yes 1 Do you know who 
lives there ? Well, we can soon find out,” 


and he touched the bell. The waiting- 
maid came in. 

“ Fika, who lives in the back part 
of the house with Krauger the butcher ? ” 

“ Eh, Herr, widow Kahlert lives there, 
and then Schmidt the weaver,” said 
Fika. 

“ Schmidt? Schmidt? Is that the weav- 
er Schmidt, who is divorced from his 
wife ? ” 

“ Yes, Herr, and people say he is 
going to be married again, to the widow 
Kahlert.” 

“ So ? so ? Do people say that ? Well, 
you may go; ” and the burgomeister 
walked up and down, thinking and think- 
ing, and then stopped before Habermann, 
and said, “ It is really a remarkable coin- 
cidence ; that is the divorced husband of 
the woman, whom we took up once for ex- 
amination ; you know, she claimed to have 
found the Danish double louis-d’ors.” 

Habermann said nothing, fear and hope 
were struggling too powerfully in his 
breast. 

The burgomeister touched the bell 
again ; Fika came : “ Fika, go round to 
butcher Krauger’s, and tell him I want 
him to come here, in a quarter of an 
hour.” 

Fika went ; and the burgomeister said 
to Habermann, “ Herr Inspector, these are 
very significant indications ; yet it is pos- 
sible we may come to a dead halt ; I can 
give you very little encouragement. But 
even if we arrive at no certainty, what 
does it matter ? \No reasonable being can 
have any suspicion of you. I have been 
really troubled to see that you have taken 
such utterly groundless suspicions so 
much to heart. But I must ask you to go 
now ; people will certainly think you are 
concerned in the matter. Say nothing 
about it, and take care that Kurz and Bra- 
sig are silent also. Yes — and — yes, that 
will do 1 You can send Inspector Br'a- 
sig to me, to-morrow morning at nine 
o’clock.” 

Habermann went, and Krauger the 
butcher came. 

“ Dear Herr Krauger,” said the burgo- 
meister, “ I sent for you, that you might 
give me information on a few points. 
The widow Kahlert and the weaver 
Schmidt live with you? ” 

“ Yes, Herr Burgomeister, they live in 
the back of my house.” 

“ As I hear, weaver Schmidt is going to 
marry widow Kahlert. Does the woman 
know that there are some legal hindrances 
in the way of Schmidt’s contracting a sec- 
ond marriage ? ” 


238 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


“ Yes, Ilerr Burgomeister ; I don’t know 
about that last ; I don’t trouble myself 
about the people ; but, you know, these 
women folks! if these is a courtship in 
the air, they are like the bees, and bring 
the news into the house, — well, Herr Bur- 
gomeister, you won’t take it ill, mine is 
naturally no better than the rest; well, 
she came in lately, and said the business 
was so far settled that Kahlertsch was 
quite determined about it, but the weaver 
wasn’t ready yet. And Frau Kahlert told 
Frau Bochert, she had cooked and washed 
for him over a year, and it was time he 
were making his preparations ; but it was 
all the fault of that baggage his divorced 
wife, who came and teased the weaver to 
take her back again. If she should come 
again, however, she would trip her up, 
and the weaver might cook and wash for 
himself.” 

“ The widow Kahlert must be very fool- 
ish,” said the burgomeister, “ to want to 
marry that man. She has a little some- 
thing, enough to live on ; but he has 
nothing in the world but his loom ; 
that came out in the evidence, at the 
divorce.” 

“Yes, it was so then. But, you see, 
Herr Burgomeister, I don’t trouble myself 
about him, — if he pays his rent, I have no 
further business with him, and he has al- 
ways done that honestly ; and he has 
rented, for this year past, a little room of 
mine, that opens into his, and my wife 
says she went in there once, with Frau 
Kahlert, and it was very nicely fitted 
up, with a sofa, and pictures on the 
wall.” 

“ He must have had a good deal 
to do then, and have earned a good 
deal.” 

“ Eh, Herr Burgomeister, a weaver ! 
and it is such a noisy business, they can 
tell, all over the neighborhood, when the 
old loom stands still, and there are 
a good many days, when I don’t hear 
its music. No, he must have something 
laid up.” 

“ Then he lives very comfortably ? ” 

“Yes, indeed! He has his fresh meat 
every day, and I told my wife, ‘ You shall 
see,’ I said, ‘ it is only because of the nice 
mutton and beef that Kahlertsch wants to 
marry him.’ ” 

“Well, Herr Krauger, just tell me 
plainly, — I ask you in confidence, — 
do you think the man is really an honest 
man ? ” 

“ Yes, Herr Burgomeister, I think he is. 
Now in some things I am very observant, 
I have had some tenants who would run a 


splinter into their fingers, in the yard, and 
when they pulled it out, in their kitchen, 
it would be a four-foot log of my beechen 
timber, and when they went through the 
shop, a pound of beef would jump into 
their coat-pockets, and the apples from 
my trees were always falling at their feet. 
Well, it isn’t so with him; I say to you, 
don’t meddle with him ! ” 

The burgomeister was an honorable 
man, and a man of the best intentions; 
but at this moment such good testimony 
in behalf of one of his fellow-men, was not 
agreeable to him; he would rather have 
heard that people thought the weaver a 
rascal. Some things are hard to explain ; 
but so much is certain, there are dark 
abysses in human nature, and when such 
an abyss has opened in the office of the 
judge, it has swallowed up thousands of 
innocent men. “ Judge, judge justly ! 
God is thy master, and thou his servant ! ” 
is a fine old proverb, which my father 
taught me when I was a little boy, but 
the weakness of human nature does not 
always suffer us to act up to it, to say 
nothing of the openly wicked, who seek 
their advantage in injustice. 

The butcher had gone, and the burgo- 
meister walked up and down the room, 
thinking over the matter, and contriving 
how he could find out how the waxed 
cloth came into the butcher’s yard. Two 
things urged him powerfully to this inves- 
tigation, one was his deep compassion for 
Ilabermann’s troubles, the other, his firm 
persuasion that this was the wrapper of 
the gold-packet which he had held in l^js 
own hand. But he knew, also, that he had! 
not yet a firm clue, which he could follow ; 
yet he was sure of so much, that the 
weaver’s divorced wife still held inter- 
course with him. 

Habermann, also, was walking up and 
down in his room, hastily, restlessly. Ah, 
how strongly he was impelled to share his 
hopes and his prospects with his child, and 
the Frau Pastorin ! But unrest for both ? 
And he had enough to do, to control his 
own. 

Br'asig sat in a chair, turning his head 
back and forth as Habermann walked up 
and down the room, and looking at him ; 
like Bauschan when Jochen Niissler had 
his cap on. 

“ Karl,” said he, finally, “ I am very glad 
to see you are growing so active, and you 
shall see, it will have a good effect upon 
you. But, I tell you, you must have an 
advocate. Take the Herr Advocate Rein ; 
he is a good fellow, who knows how to 
turn and twist, in spite of his length. You 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 239 


can’t go through with it alone, Karl ; but 
he can help you, and, if it is necessary, I 
can bring the matter before the Reform- 
verein, and your fellow-citizens can help 
you to your rights.” 

“ Brasig, for mercy’s sake ! what are 
you thinking of? You might as well tell 
it to the town-crier ! I am dreadfully 
afraid Kurz will let it out.” 

“ Kurz ? No, Karl, don’t be afraid, he 
can’t talk about it to-day, for I have been 
to him and scolded him till he can scarcely 
see or hear, and to-morrow you shall see 
he will have the croup, so that he cannot 
speak a word.” 

“ Brasig, I beg of you ; Kurz have the 
croup ? ” and Habermann laughed in spite 
of his agitation, “ what, are you talking 
about ? ” 

“ Karl, you needn’t laugh at me 1 See, 
his saddle-horse has the inflorentia, — the 
horse-doctor said so, and he ordered that 
the old mare should be separated from 
the other horses, on account of the infec- 
tion, and there was Kurz running about 
the sick horse in his cotton-wadded dress- 
ing-gown, feeling her here, and feeling her 
there, and then he ran back to the sound 
ones, to see if they had caught it already, 
and so he has infected the sound ones, 
for the infectious matter would get into 
the cotton wool of the dressing-gown, — 
cotton wool is the best thing in the world 
to carry infection, — and, you shall see, he 
has caught it himself, and to-morrow he 
will have the croup. The glanders is 
catching, why shouldn’t the inflorentia 
be ? ” 

Habermann passed a very restless night ; 
but although he had not closed an eye, he 
was full of energy next morning ; a beam 
of hope had fallen into the darkness, and 
gilded his prospects; but he could not 
stay in the house, the four walls oppressed 
him, he must have room for his restless- 
ness, and long before Brasig went to the 
Rathhaus to keep his appointment with 
the burgomeister, Habermann was wander- 
ing along the quiet footpaths through the 
green spring fields. And what a lovely 
spring it was 1 It was just as if heaven 
were saying to earth, “ Hope confidently 1 ” 
and earth again to man, “Hope confi- 
dently ! ” and to the old inspector also, she 
cried, with her green springing leaves and 
bird-voicrs, “ Hope confidently ! ” 

Heaven did not keep her promise to 
earth, the next year was a year of want ; 
earth did not keep her promise to man, 
the next year was a year of misery ; would 
she keep her promise to the old man? 
He knew not, but he trusted the message. 


He walked on, and on, he came to Gurlitz, 

| he went along the same pathway where 
j lie had walked with Franz, that Palm- 
Sunday morning, when his daughter was 
to be confirmed. He knew that it was on 
this day that love had first stirred in the 
young man’s heart, — Franz had written 
him so, he often wrote to him, — and a 
great bitterness arose in him that the hap- 
piness, which had grown so silently and 
purely in two innocent hearts, should be 
disturbed and destroyed by the foolishness 
and injustice of another person, and he 
turned off, abrubtly, into another path 
which led to Rexow, that he need not go * 
through the Pumpelhagen garden. 

A girl came towards him with a child 
on her arm, and as she came nearer she 
stood still, exclaiming : 

“ Herr Inspector 1 Herr Inspector ! How 
long it is since I have seen you ! ” 

“ Good day, Fika,” said Habermann, 
and looked at the child, “ how goes it with 
you ? ” 

“ Ah, Herr, very badly ; Krischan D'asel 
mixed himself up in that business against 
the Herr, that we might be able to get 
married, and the Herr has sent him away, 
and I should have gone too, but the gra- 
cious Frau would not permit it. Well, if 
you want to get down, run then I ” she said 
to the child, who was struggling in her 
arms. \ 

“I always have to take her out about 
this time,” she added,. “for the gracious 
Frau is busy about the housekeeping, and 
the little one frets after her.” 

Habermann looked at the child. She 
plucked flowers at the roadside, and com- 
ing up to him with “ Da ! man ! ” she put 
a marigold blossom into his hand, and 
through Habermann’s heart shot the re- 
collection of such a flower, which another 
child — his own child — had put into his 
hand years ago, and he lifted the child in 
his arms, and kissed her, and the child 
stroked his white hair : “ Ei I ei 1 ” and he 
let her down, and turned to go, saying, 

“ Fika Degel, take her home, it will rain 
soon.” 

And as he went his way, the spring 
rain fell to the earth in gentle drops, and 
his heart shone beneath it, like the fresh 
grain. What had become of his hatred ? 

When Habermann reached Rexow, his 
sister sprang to meet him, as quickly as 
her stoutness would allow : 

“ Karl ! God bless you 1 Karl ! Have 
you come at last 1 And how bright you 
look ! And so handsome I Dear brother, 
has anything happened ? Plas something 
good happened to you ? ” 


240 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


“ Yes, child, yes ; I will tell you by and 
by. Where is Jochen ? ” 

“ Jochen ? Dear heart, you may well 
ask. Where he is, no mortal knows ; he 
comes and goes like a bird on the fence. 
Since the time when it was settled that 
Rudolph and Mining are to be married 
next week, on Friday, — you are coming 
to the wedding ? — he has no rest, day nor 
night, and busies himself about the farm- 
ing, and now that the spring seed is all 
planted and he has nothing in the world to 
do, he runs about the fields, and when he 
comes home, he makes us all miserable. It 
is just as if he would make up, in the eight 
days between now and the wedding, what 
he has neglected for five and twenty 
years.” 

“ Oh, let him work ! It will do him no 
harm.” 

“ So I say, but Rudolph is vexed because 
he follows him round so.” 

“ Well, that won’t last long. Is every- 
thing quiet here ? ” 

“ Oh, yes, and if Jochen had not wanted 
to make that speech about the geese, we 
should have known nothing about the 
troubles, but at Gurlitz and Pumpelhagen 
it looks badly.” 

“ At Pumpelhagen, too ? ” 

“ Oh, yes, yes ! They say nothing about 
it; he doesn’t speak, and she doesn’t 
speak, but the whole region knows that it 
may break out, any day. He has so many 
debts, now the day-laborers demand their 
wages, and he has been letting them run 
up, and then they want you again for in- 
spector.” 

“ Oh, that last is all nonsense ! ” 

“ So I said. No, I told the gracious 
Frau, my brother Karl will never come to 
this place again.” 

“What?” asked Habermann, hastily, 
“ have you been to see her ? ” 

“Yes, indeed, Karl. Didn’t Brasig tell 
you we were going ? ” 

“ He said you were going, but I did not 
know that you had been there.” 

“ Yes, Karl, it happened this way : Trid- 
delsitz came here with his new-fashioned 
pistols, and said they would greet the day- 
laborers with them, and I said to Jochen 
we must go to those people. Well, they 
had affronted us, to be sure, and there was 
no need of our going ; but, Karl, the times ! 
If one will not stretch out his hand to help 
a neighbor in such times as these, I would 
not give much for him I Well, we rode 
over there, but what Jochen said to the 
young Herr, of course no mortal knows. 

‘ Jochen,’ said I, ‘ what did he say to you ? ’ 

‘ Nothing at all,’ said he. ‘ What did you 


talk about ? * I asked. ‘ Eh, what should 
we talk about ? * said he. * What did he 
say to you at last ? ’ said I. ‘ He said 
adieu,’ said he, ‘but, mother, I shall not 
go there again.’ ” 

“ Well, how did she receive you ? ” asked 
Habermann. 

“ Eh, Karl, I believe if she had allowed 
herself, she would have fallen upon my 
neck and wept. She took me into her 
room, and looked so friendly and natural, 
and when I told her that being a neigh- 
bor and a friend, I had come to see if I 
could be useful to her in any way, she 
looked at me kindly and quietly, and said, 

‘ Tell me, how is your brother ? ’ and when 
I had told her you were pretty well, — 
thank God ! — she asked after Louise, and 
when I had told her good news of her, she 
became quite cheerful, and began to tell 
me about her housekeeping; but it was 
not as when a couple of housewives, like 
me, sit down together to have a little 
sensible talk over their housekeeping ; it 
was a little too quick for me ; but one 
could see very well she understood it 
thoroughly. Dear heart., she may have 
need of it yeti See, Karl, I plucked up 
courage, and stood up and took her hand 
in both mine, and said she must not re- 
pulse me, — no one should throw away 
dirty water until he was sure of clean; 
she might be in trouble, — of course she 
had friends, but they might not be near at 
hand, — and then she must come to me, 
for, as her neighbor, I was the nearest to 
her, as the Frau Pastorin says, and what- 
ever I could do should be done. Karl, the 
tears stood in her eyes, and she turned 
away, and pressed them back, and when 
she turned round to me again, her face 
was full of friendliness and sweetness, and 
she took me by the hand, and said I should 
have my reward, and she took me into 
another room, and lifted her little child in 
her arms, and reached her towards me, 
and the little thing must give me a kiss. 
What a dear sweet girl it is ! ” 

“ Yes, yes 1 ” said Habermann, “ I have 
seen her this morning. But did she make 
no complaint ? ” 

“ Not a word, Karl. She said nothing 
of him, and nothing of their troubles, and 
when we came away, we were as wise as 
before, at least I was ; for Jochen told me 
nothing, if he had really heard anything 
from the young Herr.” 

“ Well, sister, it is all the same. Every 
body knows that the young Herr is in 
great pecuniary embarrassment ; Pomu- 
chelskopp gave him notice for his money, 
and did not get it at St. Anthony’s day, 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


241 


and has now sued him ; Moses has given I 
him notice for St. John’s day, and will not 
get his money either, for in such times, 
and under such circumstances, he can 
raise nothing, and then his estate must be 
sold, and it will go very cheap, and Po- 
muchelskopp will buy it. In better times, 
and under the right sort of management, 
the estate would bring a good price. 
You will help the gracious Frau and so 
will I, I will gladly give up my little cap- 
ital, if the young Ilerr will consent to a 
sensible management ; but that would not 
go far. You must do something also ; 
and I will talk seriously to Moses, and it 
will be a sin and a shame if we honest 
people cannot get the better of that old 
rascal, who muddied the water in the first 
place, that he might catch his carp the 
easier ! ” 

“Yes, Karl, if he would manage sensibly, 
and have you for inspector again, then — ” 

“ No, child,” interposed Habermann, 
decidedly, “ I shall never go there again. 
But there are plenty of skilful farmers in 
the country, — 1 thank God ! — and he must 
get such an one, and leave the manage- 
ment to him, we will make that a condi- 
tion.” 

“ Yes, Karl, that is all very well ; but 
now we have the outfit for Mining, — 
Kurz might have done more about it, and 
for his only son, but he is always filling 
one’s ears with complaints, and, Karl, it 
might make us trouble with Rudolph ; and 
we must take care that we have something 
to live upon, in our old age, and then our 
money is all tied up in mortgages.” 

“ Moses can arrange all that. You see, 
sister, you have promised the Frau you 
would help her, and I know you meant 
what you said ; now is the time for you to 
help ! ” 

“Yes, Karl, but Jochen! what will Jo- 
chen say ? ” 

“Eh, Jochen I Jochen has done what- 
ever you wanted for this five and twenty 
years, he will do so still.” 

“Karl, you are right ; he must do so. I 
have always managed for his good, and 
would he set himself against me now? 
But he is always making trouble ; it is 
very hard to control him,” and Frau Niiss- 
ler sprang up from her chair, and struck 
her fist against the table, as if that were 
Jochen. 

« My dear child,” said Habermann, 
“ you have brought about a great deal of 
good, in these long years; you will bring 
this about too. May God help you ! and 
now, adieu ! ” and he gave his sister a 
kiss, and departed. 


What a pleasant walk he had! His 
restlessness of yesterday and that morn- 
ing were quite gone, such a sure hope had 
sprung up in him, and all that he saw, the 
blue sky and the green earth, harmonized 
with his mood, harmonized with the peace 
which had entered his heart. And as 
he arrived at home, and his daughter 
scolded him, and the Frau Pastorin won- 
dered why he had not come home to 
dinner, which they had kept waiting for 
him, he looked so bright and cheerful, that 
Br'asig gazed at him in astonishment, and 
said to himself, “ Karl must have found out 
some new indicium,” for; he had learned 
several new Latin phrases that morning. 
And he sat there, and made the most 
frightful faces at Habermann, until the 
old man finally understood them as signs 
that he should go out, and went with him 
up-stairs to his room. 

“Brasig,” cried Habermann, in some ex- 
citement, “ do you know anything about 
the business ? Has anything come out ? ” 

“ Karl,” said Brasig, walking up and 
down with his long pipe, and tugging at a 
high shirt-collar, which sat very uncom- 
fortably, as he did not usually wear one, 
“Karl, don’t you see anything unusual 
about me ? ” 

“ Yes, Brasig,” said Habermann, “ your 
shirt-collar, and it seems to scratch you 
dreadfully.” 

“ That is nothing. Higher up ! ” 

“ Eh, then I don’t know.” 

“Karl,” said Br'asig, standing before 
him, “ so as you see me here, I am ap- 
pointed assessor at the criminal court, and 
get, by the hour’s sitting, eight shillings, 
Prussian currency.” 

“ Oh, leave that alone ! But tell me, is 
there any prospect that anything can 
come of the matter ? ” 

Brasig looked his friend right in the 
eye, shook his head a little, and said ; 
“ Karl, I dare not tell you anything, and I 
will not, the Herr Burgomeister has ex- 
pressly forbidden me to say anything here 
in town, and especially to you, for the 
Herr Burgomeister says it will only be a 
useless torment for you, and we must have 
more indiciums, for he can do nothing 
without indiciums, and these confounded 
things can only be obtained by the great- 
est secrecy, says the Herr Burgomeister, 
and, if the whole city knows it, it would 
only give opportunity for all sorts of con- 
fusions among the rascals. But so much 
I can tell you, they have lied already, and 
they will keep on lying, till they fix them- 
selves in a trap.” 

There was a knock at the door ; it was 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


242 

the letter-carrier, bringing Habermann a 
letter: “From Paris,” he said, and went 
away. 

“ Lord preserve us, Karl I You have 
very distinguished acquaintances I Who 
the devil can it be ? From Paris ! ” 

“It is from Franz,” said Habermann, 
and his hand trembled, as he hastily broke 
the seal. Franz had often written to him, 
and every time he had been in doubt 
whether to mention the correspondence to 
his child or not, — until now, he had said 
nothing to her about it. He read; the 
letter was full of friendship, and the old 
attachment ; every word expressed the 
recollection of old times ; but not a single 
one referred to his love. At the close, he 
said that he should remain in Paris until 
St. John’s day, and then return home. 
This last Habermann told Brasig, as he 
put the letter in his pocket. 

Brasig was walking back and forth 
meanwhile, thinking, and, if Habermann 
had not been occupied with his letter, he 
must have heard what he was saying to 
himself. 

“ Remarkable I quite remarkable ! It 
seems to me like the finger of God ! The 
Herr Burgomeister can have no objection 
to that, Paris has nothing to do with the 
indiciums, this is a purely private affair. 
Karl,” he said at last, standing before 
Habermann, and looking at him, as he had 
seen the burgomeister look at the weaver 
that morning, “ Karl, tell me the real 
truth ; does your young Herr von Ram- 
bow know, — your old pupil, I mean, — 
that I know, that you and the Frau Pas- 
torin know, that something has happened 
between him and Louise, that nobody is 
to know? ” 

“ Eh, Brasig, I don’t know ” 

“ Good, Karl, I see I have not expressed 
my meaning clearly enough, I mean, is he 
of the opinion that you and the Frau Pas- 


I torin think that I think well of his love 
for Louise, and that you have told me ? 
That is my opinion, and now tell me 
yours.” 

“Eh, Brasig, he knows that you know 
about it, and he knows that you think 
well of it ; but what of that ? ” 

“ Good, Karl ; lose no words ! But I 
must go now, I have invited David Berger 
and his trumpeters and the whole glee- 
club to Grammelin’s this evening, to a 
bowl of punch, and I must go and look 
after it. So, adieu, Karl ! ” and he went, 
but came back again : “Karl, tell the Frau 
Pastorin, I shall not be home to supper. 
If I should say anything to her about the 
punch, she would preach me a little ser- 
mon ; and you, Karl, don’t be alarmed if I 
come home late to-night. I have the key.” 
But he came back once more to say: 
“ Karl, what can be done, shall be done.” 

“ I believe it,” said Habermann, who 
thought he referred to the punch, “you 
will do your business thoroughly.” Bra- 
sig nodded, as if to say he might rely upon 
him with confidence, and went. 

Habermann sat there, and read his let- 
ter a second time, and who would have 
thought that from this manuscript so many 
fair hopes would blossom? The warm 
friendship, which spoke in the letter, 
soothed him like the spring weather, and 
the trusting tone echoed sweetly in his 
ears, as the song of birds. Should his 
hopes be again deceived? Time would 
show ! 

Ah, time and hope ! They stand over 
against each other, like the cuckoo and 
the seven stars; a man who, after long 
darkness, ventures to hope again, and 
sees the first faint gleams of happiness in 
the dark sky, must yet wait patiently the 
time when the sun stands full in the 
heavens. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER XL. 

The next morning, when Zachary Brii- 
sig arose, he took hold of his head with 
both hands, saying : 

“Karl, you may congratulate yourself 
that I haven’t a worse headache than I 
really have : for who could play assessor 
to-day ? If I had followed Grammelin’s 
cursed punch receipt I should have a whole 
nest of sparrows* in my head this morn- 
ing. But I made it after my own fash- 
ion.” 

“ Well, were you very jolly ? ” asked 
Habermann. 

“ Oh, yes ! the younger part of the com- 
pany were quite lively ; as for me, I kept 
myself very quiet. I sat by the town-mu- 
sician, David Berger, and, by the way, 
Karl ! what an amount that fellow can 
stand ! I thought to myself, that belongs 
to his business; but one glass after an- 
other, incessantly ! and at last he became 
what they call sentimental, he embraced 
me, and, with tears in his eyes, told me 
how little he could earn in these political 
times, till Herr Siissmann, who is Kurz’s 
shopman, and I really pitied him. And 
Herr Siissmann proposed to the company 
that we should get up a fraternity ball, 
for David Berger’s benefit ; that is, a po- 
litical one, where all ranks, nobility, and 
ritter-proprietors, and pachters and burgh- 
ers and their wives and children, should 
come together, and shake hands, and dance 
with, and, for aught I know, kiss each 
other. And this indicium was resolved 
upon, and it is to be a week from Sunday. 
And Herr Siissmann drew up a subscrip- 
tion paper, and I subscribed for you and 
me and the Frau Pastorifi and Louise.” 

“ Brasig, I beg mf you, what would the 
Frau Pastorin and Louise do at a ball, or 
I, either ? ” 

“ But you must, for it is a noble cause.” 

“ And you couldn’t go either, Zachary, 
for a week from Friday is Mining’s wed- 
ding day, and the next Sunday the going 
to church, and what would my sister say 
if you were absent, and at your stupid 
Reform-ball?” 

“ That alters the matter, we must have 
it put off, and so adieu, Karl, I will go at 
once to Herr Siissmann, and see about it, 
and then I must go to the Rathhaus, you 
know, to sit for four groschen an hour.” 

He went directly to Kurz’s shop, but 
Herr Sussmann was not there, Kurz him- 
self was running about, opening the 
drawers and looking in, and then shutting 
them again. 


243 

“ Good morning, Kurz, where is your 
young Herr ? ” 

“I have no young Herr; I am Herr* 
myself.” 

“ Kurz, take care of your words, we live 
in democratic times, since ” 

“ Ah, what ? Here V Take care ! I 
despise the whole democracy, when my 
shopman goes out drinking punch over 
night, and cannot get up in the morning ; 
and old people should be ashamed ” 

“Hold, Kurz, you are beginning again 
with your flatteries, like last Sunday, but 
I cannot allow it at present, on account of 
my situation at the court. And adieu, 
Kurz ! But I am sorry for you, for you 
have caught the inflorentia, you should go 
to bed, there is something in your bones, 
and if you will feel under your gaiters, 
you will find you are beginning to get the 
rheumatism. But adieu, Kurz ! ” 

He went off, but Kurz raved about his 
shop, and stormed at the whole world, un- 
til his wife, as soon as the shopman was 
out of bed, got him into bed, and put him 
under arrest for the time. 

After this little interview, Brasig went 
to the Rathhaus, and earned there with- 
out any further trouble, and in all quiet, 
five times four groschen, for the sitting 
lasted five hours. AVhen he came home 
they had finished dinner, and as the 
table was spread again, expressly for him, 
the Frau Pastorin made some pointed 
remarks about irregularity in one’s habits 
of life, and coming home at two o’clock in 
the morning, and sitting down to dinner 
at two o’clock in the afternoon ; and Uncle 
Brasig sat there, and grinned, looking 
very well contented with himself, as if he 
would say, “ Ah, if you .knew what hard 
work I have been doing, and in what place 
I went through with it, you would stroke 
me and pet me, you would kiss me, and do 
more than you have ever done for me ; ” 
and when he rose from the table, he said, 
solemnly, “ Frau Pastorin, it will all come 
to light, as the Herr Burgomeister says,” 
and he nodded to Habermann, “ Bonus ! 
as the Herr President Rein says,” and go- 
ing up to Louise, he put his arms round 
her and kissed her, and said, “ Louise, 
get me the finest sheet of writing paper 
that you can find, for I want to pack up a 
little — well, I will say indicium, — so 
that it may not be injured, for it is to go 
a long way.” 

And as he went out with the sheet iu 

* Herr has the meaning of Mr., Sir, gentleman 
and master. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


244 

his hand, he turned round again to re- 
mark : 

“ Karl, as I said before, what can be 
done shall be done.” 

And he came back once more to say : 
“ Frau Pastorin, I shall come home to sup- 
per to-night.” 

He went to the post-office. The post- 
master was at home, he was always at 
home ; for a hundred and fifty thalers sal- 
ary, he had imprisoned himself for life, 
not in a room, no, in a bird-cage, which he 
called his “ comptoir,” and when he had no 
postal business, he sat there and played 
the flute, and sung, like the finest canary- 
bird. He was engaged in this agreeable 
business, when Brasig entered : 

“ Good-day, Herr Postmaster. You are 
a man of honor, therefore I wish to ask 
your assistance in a delicate matter. Of 
course, it isn’t necessary for you to know 
the thing itself, that must remain a secret, 
and what I tell you must also remain a 
secret. I am going to write to Paris.” 

“To Paris? What the devil are you 
writing to Paris for? ” 

“ To Paris,” said Brasig, drawing him- 
self up. 

“What in the world!” said the post- 
master, “ one of you inspectors gets a let- 
ter from Paris, and the other will send 
one. Well, we will see how much it 
costs.” He turned his books over, and 
said at last, “I can’t find it here, I will 
reckon it up; it cannot be done under 
sixteen groschen.” 

“ No matter, I have earned twenty 
groschen this morning, at the court.” 

“ Whom is the letter for ? ” 

“ The young Herr Franz von Ram- 
bow.” 

“Do you know his address, where he 
lives?” 

“ Why, in Paris.” 

“But Paris is a great city. You must 
know the street, and the number of the 
house.” 

“ God bless me ! ” said Brasig, “ all that ! 
I don’t know it.” 

“ Ask Habermann.” 

“ That is just the thing, he mustn’t know 
of it.” 

“ Well, I know no other way, then, than 
for you to write your letter, and enclose it 
to the Mecklenburg ambassador, Dr. Urt- 
lingen, he may be able to find him.” 

“ He must,” said Brasig, “ for the busi- 
ness is of great importance, and that is 
what he gets his salary for. But what I 
was going to say, will you allow me to write 
the letter here ? Because it must be kept 
a secret from Habermann.” 


“Oh, yes,” said the postmaster, “come 
right in here, before my wife sees you, 
for, though it is the regular room for 
passengers, my wife will allow no one 
under a count to go in there. And you 
must let yourself be locked in.” 

Brasig had no objections to that, and so 
he sat there, from three o’clock in the 
afternoon, until it grew dark, and wrote 
his letter ; the postmaster fluted and sung, 
in his bird-cage ; he wrote ; the Frau 
Postmaster came and rattled the door, she 
wanted to get into her sanctum, and 
scolded because the key was gone ; the 
Herr Postmaster had it in his pocket, and 
fluted and sung; Brasig wrote his letter. 
Finally he finished it ; he read it over, and 
we can look over his shoulder. Here it 
is. 

“ Highly well-born young Herr von Ram- 

bow: 

“ A very remarkable thing has happened 
here, since Kurz the merchant had his manure 
carted on to baker Wredow’s field, who is his 
rival in respect to the stadtbullen. Habermann 
found a piece of black waxed cloth there, with 
the Rambow coat of arms on it, which was a 
great relief to him, on account of the suspicion 
about the theft of the louis-d’ors, in the year 
’45, and the Herr Burgomeister also says that 
it is an indicium. The Herr Burgomeister has 
made me assessor at the court ; there is a little 
something to be earned in that way, but it is 
very hard for me, being an old farmer, and 
accustomed to exercise, and also on account of 
the gout; it is not much trouble to be sure, but 
one gets sleepy in the long sittings. But the 
good of it is that I can know all about the 
business, which Habermann must know nothing 
about, because the Herr Burgomeister has for- 
bidden it. Since you are in Paris, and not in 
Rahnstadt, I can talk with you freely, as a 
friend, about the business, and the business is 
this: the weaver, he lies, that he has no more 
intercourse with his wife, and the Herr Bur- 
gomeister says that is another indicium. We 
have a great many indiciums already. The 
principal business is still to come, however, 
namely, Kiihlertsch. Kahlertsch is positively 
determined to marry the weaver, and is of the 
opinion that the weaver will not have her, be- 
cause his divorced wife wants him to marry 
her again. This has caused bad feelings in 
Kahlertsch, — what is called jealousy, — and 
she has come out with a lot of new indiciums, 
as the Herr Burgomeister says, very important 
and elevant, or, as I express myself in German, 
nearly connected with the matter. But the 
Herr Burgomeister says, one must be very 
careful, for the women-folks are spiteful when 
they are jealous, and tell lies sometimes. Mean- 
while her lies have proved themselves, since she 
has come out with the whole truth, that the 
weaver was always getting Danish double louis- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


d’ors, as also the butcher Kranger testified, in 
two compertinent cases. And while the weaver 
was before the court, telling us new lies and 
new indiciums, they searched the weiver’s 
house, with Hoppner at the head, and found 
nine Danish double louis-d’ors, in bis cup- i 
board, in a secret place. Which he tried to 
coutend against, later, but did not succeed. 
She, the weaver’s wife, who is the worst of the 
lot, was also caught, this morning, since they 
found, in searching her house, a snuff-box, 
which had belonged to the blessed Herr Pastor 
himself, and was kept by the Pastor’s family 
like a relic, in a glass case, for which shameful 
deed she has been furnished with free lodgings. 
Kiihlertsch has also been taken up, since in her 
wickedness she has belied the court, the Herr 
Burgomeister, and myself, as assessor. They 
all lie, till they are black in the face, but what 
good does that do them ? * The Herr Burgo- 
meister says he is morally persuaded that they 
have done it, and it must come out, and it will 
come out. What a triumph it will be for my 
Karl Habermann, when he stands in his old 
age, like an angel of innocence tried in the fire, 
and goes about among the people, with his white 
hair, in the white robes of innocence. They 
must be as ashamed as drowned poodles for 
all they have done to him, I mean — to speak 
with respect — Pomuchelskopp and the Pum- 
pelhagener, who have fallen out with each other, 
because Zamwell has sued the other, of which I 
will say nothing more, since I told Pomuchels- 
kopp my opinion of him at the Reformverein, 
and your Herr Cousin of Pumpelhagen has given 
me the cold shoulder. He is going on in a bad 
way, for he is dreadfully disturbed because 
Moses has given him notice for the money on 
St. John’s day, and he has no money and no 
grain, and how can they live? He is an utterly 
incapable man. You must never, while I live, 
let Habermann know of this letter; because i,t 
is a secret between us. But I thought it would 
be interesting for you to know who the real 
rascals were, and that Karl Habermann, — 
thank God! — is not among them. He is very 
much cheered up by these occurrences, and 
strikes out with his heels, like a young colt, 
when the saddle is taken otf. I think this is 
an encouraging sign for the future. As for 
news of your old acquaintances in the region, I 
can only tell you that, next week Friday, Mi- 
ning and Rudolph expect to be united in mar- 
riage. Frau Niissler, whom you will remember 
as a very beautiful young woman, is still — no 
need to say — very handsome, but has grown 
a little stouter; Jochen also is very well, and is 
training up, for his future establishment, a 
new crown prince. Your Herr Colleague, of 
old times, is now the Totum at Pumpelhagen; 
Habermann says he will yet do well; I say he 
is a greyhound, who goes among people with 
his fire-arms, on account of which he has put 
Frau Niissler and me formally under the ban. 
We have a Reform at present in Rahnstadt; the 
young Pastor Gottlieb preached against it, but 


245 

the young Frau Pastorin knows how to manage 
him. Rector Baldrian brought the tailoresses, 
and a certain Platow or Patow or some such 
person, into the Reform; but Kurz has been 
repeatedly turned out ; his four horses have the 
intiorentia; it began with his old saddle-horse, 
and it will end with himself, for he has already 
got the rheumatism. The old Frau Pastorin 
Behrends is still our honored hostess, also with 
eating and drinking, for Habermann and I 
lodge and sleep, and take our daily meals with 
her; she, as well as Habermann, would send 
greetings to you, but they cannot, for they 
know nothing about it. But we often speak 
about you, since you are always like an ever- 
present picture before our eyes. I cannot think 
of more to tell at present, — but one thing 
occurs to me. Pomuchelskopp got himself voted 
into the Reformverein; the master carpenter 
Schultz is a brave man, he stood by me, at that 
time. Krischan Diisel has been sent away by 
your Herr Cousin, and there is no definite trace 
of Regel ; but Louise Habermann is — thank 
God ! — very well indeed. 

In the hope that my humble writing may not 
be disagreeable or inconvenient, I have the 
honor to subscribe myself, with the deepest 
reverence, and greeting you from the heart as 
an old friend, 

“ Your most obedient humble servant, 

“ Zachary Brasig. 

“ Immeriter Inspector , and temporary Asses- 
sor. 

“ Rahnstadt, 13 May, 1848. 

“Postscript. — Apropos! I write this let- 
ter in the Frau Postmaster’s sanctum, since the 
Herr Postmaster has locked me in expressly for 
the purpose, and has sworn not to say a word. 
This is all because of the secrecy, for Habermann 
and the Frau Pastorin and Louise know nothing 
about it; Louise has given me this sheet of letter 
paper, it belonged to her, and I believe it will 
be a little gratification to you, for I remember 
my youthful days, when I had three sweethearts 
at once. She is devoted, in love and sadness, 
to her old father, and for others she is a 
precious pearl of the human race. If 1 receive 
an answer from you, that you have no objec- 
tions, I will write again about the rascals they 
have caught. If you should be in our region 
again a week from Sunday, I invite you to our 
fraternity ball ; the seamstresses and tailoresses 
are all to be invited. 

“ The Aforesaid.” 

When Brasig had finished this difficult 
piece of work, he rapped and pounded on 
the door, and as the postmaster unlocked 
it and let him out, he stood there, with the 
sweat dripping from his face. 

“ Bless me ! ” said the postmaster, “ how 
you look ! It is true, isn’t it ? Unaccus- 
tomed labor is painful ! ” 

With that, he took the letter from him, 
and put it in an envelope, and directed it 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


246 

to the Herr von Rainbow, and then en- 
closed it in another envelope, to the ad- 
dress of the Mecklenburg ambassador in 
Paris. Brasig paid his sixteen groschen, 
and the letter was now ready to start on 
its journey, for the postman, who should 
take it, that moment stopped at the door. 
And the postmaster sung, in his bower : 

“ Ein Leipziger Student hat jungst nach haus 
geschrieben, 

Frau Mutter, sagen Sie, darf denn kein Mad- 
chen lieben ? ” 

And as Brasig went out of the door he 
sung : 

“ Custine schickt eine schnelle Post, 

Die nach Paris reiten muss : 

Die Sachsen und Preussen marschiren ins 
Feld, 

TJm Mainz zu bombardiren, 

Und wenn ich keinen Succurs bekomm, 

Denn muss ich capituliren.” 

“ You may capituliren, as much as you 
please, for all me ; only hold your tongue, 
as you have promised,” said our old friend, 
and he went home, not only with the agree- 
able feeling that he had done a good action, 
but also with the equally agreeable feeling 
that he had accomplished a difficult task 
very skilfully, since he considered it pure 
finesse, as he said to himself, to have intro- 
duced Louise into the letter, so delicately, 
so prceter propter and so circa , that one 
must have keen scent, to suspect any- 
thing. 

Well, when one indulges such a delight- 
ful consciousness of his good and skilful 
performances, and, so to say, warms him- 
self at its blaze as at a cosy fire, on a 
winter’s evening, it must be doubly vexa- 
tious to be driven out in the wind and 
rain, with all manner of scolding and re- 
proaches ; and this happened to Brasig, 
when he entered the Frau Pastorin’s room, 
where she was sitting with the little asses- 
sor ; Louise was not there. Frau Pastorin 
was just trying to light a lamp, and the 
matches would not catch, firstly, because 
Kurz did not supply them with the best 
quality, and secondly, because Frau Pas- 
torin — perhaps from economy — had the 
habit of putting the broken matches, and 
those that wduld not light, back into the 
box, so that such a match, in the course 
of its short life, had the satisfaction of 
being tried at least twenty times, which 
may have been very agreeable to the 
match, but was very provoking to other 
people. 

“Well, there you are !” cried the Frau 
Pastorin angrily, trying a match. “ There 
you are, at last,” — the second match. 


“ You are running about the town all day,” 
— another match ; “ but you go with blind 
eyes, — two matches at once, — “ and with 
deaf ears!” — another match. “You al- 
ways know everything,” — a match — “ and 
when anything happens, then you know 
nothing, ” — three matches together. 

Brasig went up to the Frau Pastorin 
very politely and pleasantly, and took the 
match-box from her hand, saying, “By 
your leave ! ” — a match — “ what do you 
mean by that ? ” — the second match. 
“ Have I done anything to harm you ? ” — 
the third match. “ Kurz ought to be paid 
with his own wares ! ” — two matches. 
“ His things that ought to catch don’t 
catch, and what ought not to catch, 
catches,” — three matches. “ The con- 
founded things haVe got the inflorentia ! ” 
and with that he threw the whole box on 
the table, pulled his own match-safe out 
of his pocket, and struck a light. 

“Brasig,” said the Frau Pastorin, put- 
ting all the tried matches carefully into 
the box, “ I am very much vexed with you. 
I am not inquisitive, but, when anything 
happens that concerns Habermann and 
Louise, I am certainly the nearest, and 
ought to know it. Why must our little 
Anna first come out with what you ought 
to have told me long ago, for you knew it, 
I see it in your face, you knew it.” 

“ How so ? ” asked Brasig, and was go- 
ing to pretend great ignorance ; but the 
Frau Pastorin was too much provoked 
with him, for she thought he had treated 
her shamefully, and she said : 

“ You need not pretend ; I know that 
you know everything, and you tell me 
nothing ! ” and now she began to tap the 
old man, and the little assessor also bored 
away at the Herr Assessor ; finer and finer 
the two women drew their threads, and 
got everything out of Brasig that he knew, 
for silence was by no means a special gift 
of his, and when he at last cried out in 
sheer despair : “ So, now I know nothing 
more,” then the little round Frau Pasto- 
rin placed herself before him, saying, 
“ Brasig, I know you, I see it in your face, 
you know something more. Out with it! 
What else do you know ? ” 

“ Frau Pastorin, it is a private affair.” 

“ That is all the same ; out with it ! ” 

And Brasig shoved about in his chair, 
and looked right and left, but there was no 
help for it, he must surrender, and he said, 
finally, “ I have written about it to Ilerr 
Franz von Rambow, at Paris ; but Karl 
Habermann must never know it.” 

“ To Paris ! ” cried the Frau Pastorin, 
putting her hands on her sides, “to the 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


young Herr von Rainbow ! What have 
you written to him? You have written 
something about Louise, I see it in your 
face I Yes, you have written something, 
and what I would hardly dream of, you 
have done ! ” She rang the bell violently : 
“ Fika, run to the post-office, the Herr 
Postmaster shall give you back, immedi- 
ately, the letter that Herr Brasig has 
written to Paris.” 

Tereng-tereng-tereng-tentereng ! blew 
the postillion, and the post with Brasig’s 
letter drove by, with flourish of trumpets, 
before the Frau Pastorin’s nose, express 
for Paris, and the Frau Pastorin in, great 
vexation, sank back in her sofa-corner, sent 
Fika back to the kitchen, and — alas ! that 
we should have to confess it — she was 
almost ready to murmur against provi- 
dence, that, perhaps for the first time, the 
Rahnstadt post had started at the right 
moment, to take Brasig’s stupid letter to 
Paris. 

Brasig declared, most solemnly, that he 
had managed the business with the great- 
est delicacy, so that there was not the 
least indicium to be perceived. 

“Did you send greeting from her?” 
asked the Frau Pastorin. 

“ No,” said Brasig, “ I only said she was 
very well.” 

“ Have you written nothing else about 
her ? ” 

“ I only wrote that the sheet of paper 
belonged to her, and that she was a pre- 
cious pearl of the human race.” 

“ So she is,” interposed the Frau Pas- 
torin. 

“ And then I closed in a very friendly 
way, by inviting the young Herr to our 
fraternity ball.” 

“That was foolish,” cried the Frau Pas- 
torin, “he will notice that, he will think 
you have the intention to bring him and 
Louise together again.” 

“Frau Pastorin,” said Brasig, placing 
himself before her, “with all respect for 
your words , .is it foolish and wicked, if one 
has the intention of bringing two people 
together again, who have been separated 
by° the wickedness and meanness of other 
people? I had this intention, and there- 
fore I wrote that letter ; Habermann could 
not have done it; for why? He is her 
father, and it would not have been fitting. 
You could not have done it; for why? 
Because they have called you already, 
here in Rahnstadt, all sorts of scandalous 
names. It is nothing to me, however, if 
people do call me an old go-between ; I 
don’t trouble myself about it ; I will fetch 
and carry between here and Paris, and if 


247 

I am only considered in Paris to be an 
honest man and a faithful friend to Karl 
Habermann and Louise, it is nothing to 
me if all Rahnstadt calls me an old match- 
maker.” 

“ Yes, Frau Pastorin, yes ! ” cried the 
little assessor, falling upon the Frau Pas- 
torin’s neck, “ the Herr Inspector is right. 
Who cares for the gossips of Rahnstadt ? 
What matters the stupid judgment of the 
world, if two people can be made happy ? 
Franz must come, and Louise must be 
happy,” and in her delight she ran up to 
Briisig, and put Iter arms round his neck, 
and kissed him, right on his mouth. “ You 
are a dear, old Uncle Brasig ! ” 

And Brasig returned the kiss, and said, 
“ Yes, you little clavier-mam sell, you dear 
little lark, you ! You ought to try your 
happiness also, in such relations. But 
hold ! We mustn’t cackle too soon, the 
business is not settled yet, the rascals are 
not yet convicted, and, if I know Karl 
Habermann, he must be perfectly cleared 
in that affair, before he will consent to 
such an arrangement, and therefore I have 
said nothing about the matter, that he and 
Louise might not be disturbed. And it is 
a great blessing that Kurz has the inflo- 
rentia, for he could never have held his 
tongue so long otherwise.” 

“ Brasig,” said the Frau Pastorin, “ tak- 
ing it all together, I believe you have 
done right.” 

“ Haven’t I, Frau Pastorin ? And you 
were only vexed, because you didn’t write 
first. But you shall have the honor of 
writing to the young Herr, when it is all 
settled.” 

Three days after this interview, Brasig 
came home, and met the Frau Pastorin in 
the hall. Her right hand was in a band- 
age, for she had just sprained it, falling 
down the cellar-stairs. 

“Frau Pastorin,” said he, with great 
earnestness and expression, “ I shall come 
down again immediately, and have some- 
thing to tell you.” 

With that, he went up-stair3 to Haber- 
mann. He said neither “ Good day ” nor 
anything else, as he entered the room, but, 
looking very solemn, went through into 
the bedroom. There he poured out a 
glass of water, and returned with it to 
Habermann. 

“ Here, Karl, drink ! ” 

“ What ? Why should I drink ? ” 

“ Because it is good for you. What you 
will need afterward, will not hurt you be- 
fore.” 

“ Brasig, what ails you ? ” cried Haber- 
mann, pushing away the water; but he 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


248 

noticed that something unusual was com- 
ing. 

“ Well, Karl, if you won’t take it, you 
won’t; but collect yourself, collect your- 
self quickly ; ” and he walked up and 
down, while Ilabermann followed him with 
his eyes, and turned pale, as he felt 
that this moment was to influence his des- 
tiny. 

“ Karl,” said Brasig, standing before 
him, “have you collected yourself? ” 

He had really done so ; he stood up and 
exclaimed : 

“ Brasig, say what you have to say ! 
What I have borne so long, I can bear yet 
longer, if need be.” 

“ That is not my meaning,” said Brasig. 
“ It is all out, the rascals are convicted, 
and we have the money ; not all, but some 
of it.” 

The old man had dreamed what it would 
be to be delivered from his troubles, for a 
ray of hope had gleamed upon his horizon ; 
but when the sun was fairly risen upon 
this new day, and shone brightly in his 
face, his eyes were blinded by the sudden 
splendor, and a thousand suns floated 
around him. 

“ Brasig ! Brasig ! My honest name ! 
My child’s happiness ! ” and he sank back 
in his chair, and Brasig held him the glass 
of water, and the old man drank, and re- 
covered himself a little, and grasped Bra- 
sig, who stood before him, about the knees : 
“ Zachary, you have never in your life de- 
ceived me ! ” 

“ No, Karl, it is the pure truth, and it 
stands in the protocol, and the rascals will 
be sent to Dreiberg, the Herr Burgomeis- 
ter says ; but first to Biitzow, to the crim- 
inal court.” 

“ Brasig,” said Habermann, and he stood 
up, and went into his sleeping room, 
“ leave me alone, and say nothing to Lou- 
ise ! Yes, tell her to come up.” 

“ Yes, Karl,” said Brasig, walking to the 
> window, and looking out, and wiping the 
tears from his eyes, and as he went 
through the door he saw his Karl, in the 
bedroom, upon his knees. 

Louise went to her father, Brasig told 
her nothing; but to the Frau Pastorin he 
was not so silent. 

“Bless me,” said the little Frau, “now 
Louise has gone away, and Habermann 
does not come, and you, Brasig, don’t 
come at the right time, the dinner will be 
cold, and we have such nice fish. What 
were you going to tell me, Brasig? ” 

“ Oh, nothing much,” said Uncle Bra- 
sig, looking as if the rascals had infected 
him with all sorts of roguery, and he must 


exercise it now upon the Frau Pastorin, 
because she had abused him so about the 
letter ; “ only that Habermann and Lou- 
ise are not coming to dinner. But we 
two can begin.” 

“ Eh, Brasig, why are they not coming ? ” 
“ Well, because of the apron.” 

“ The apron ? ” 

“ Yes, because it was wet.” 

“ Whose apron was wet ? ” 

“ Why, Frau Kiihlert’s. But we will 
eat our dinner, the fish will get cold.” 

“Not a morsel ! ” cried the Frau Pasto- 
rin, and put a couple of plates over the 
fish, and over those a napkin, and over 
that her plump hands, and looked so wild- 
ly at Brasig with her round eyes, that he 
could no longer persist in his rd/e, but 
burst out : “ It is all out, Frau Pastorin, 
and they are convicted, and we have most 
of the money again.” 

“ And do you tell me that now, first ? ” 
cried the little Frau, and jumped up from 
the table, and was running up to Haber- 
mann. Brasig would not allow that, and, 
by promising to tell her everything, 
brought her back to the sofa. 

“ Frau Pastorin,” said he, “ the chief 
thing, that is, the principal indicium, 
came out through Kahlertsch, that is to 
say, not properly, of her own accord, but 
through her wicked jealousy, which is a 
dreadfully powerful feeling in many wo- 
men, and produces the most terrible con- 
sequences. I don’t mean you, by that, I 
only mean Kahlertsch. You see the wo- 
man had made up her mind to marry the 
weaver, and the weaver would’nt have her. 
Now, she is rightly of the opinion that the 
weaver’s divorced wife wishes to marry 
him again, herself, and she lies in wait for 
them, and so it happened once that her 
apron — I mean Kahlertsch’s — was wet, 
and she was going to dry it on the garden 
fence. While she was there, half con- 
cealed behind the fence, she saw the 
weaver and his divorced wife, holding a 
rendezvous , — well, you know what that is, 

Frau Pastorin ” 

“ Brasig, I tell you ” 

“ Quiet, Frau Pastorin! and they were 
not sitting in a ditch, they were standing 
among the pole-beans, so that the woman 
must have got into the garden from over 
the fence, in the rear, since she had not 
gone through .the house. Kahlertsch in 
her wicked jealousy, called Frau Kriiuger, 
the butcher’s wife, to come and look also, 
and they two watched the other two, till 
they disappeared among the beans, and 
after a little the woman got over the 
fence, and the weaver busied himself in 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


249 


the garden, whereupon the two women 
quietly retired. So far we had got, and 
this was true, for the butcher’s wife swore 
to it. 

“ Then the Herr Burgomeister says, if 
Kahlertsch would only speak out, we 
might learn more. Then I say, ‘Herr 
Burgomeister, woman’s jealousy ! ’ then he 
says, ‘ But how ? ’ Then I say, ‘ Herr Bur- 
gomeister, I knew something about it, 
when I had three sweethearts at once, — 
jealousy is a terrible passion, and it knows 
neither mercy nor pity. Let me try her.’ 
and when Kahlertsch came again I said, in 
an off-hand way, ‘ Well, if the weaver had 
not married any body else, meantime, I 
suppose he could marry his divorced wife 
again.’ And the Herr Burgomeister took 
my hint, and said yes, if he wanted to, 
the clerical consistory could give him a 
desperation. You see, that put the wo- 
man herself into a desperation, and she 
burst out, if it was coming to that, she 
would tell something, the weaver had 
brought money with him out of the gar- 
den, for before that he had had no money 
in his cupboard, but afterwards she had 
looked, and had found money there, sev- 
eral double louis-d’ors. You see, she had 
trapped herself, showing that she had 
been, with a night-key, into other people’s 
cupboards. The Herr Burgomeister had 
her arrested and put in prison, so we now 
had the three rogues fast. 

“ When the weaver came in again, and 
lied again, as to how he had come by the 
money, and lied to the very face of the 
butcher’s wife, that he had not been with 
his wife in the garden, you see, the 
butcher’s wife got angry too, and said she 
had seen the calves of her leg3, as she was 
climbing over the fence, — don’t take it 
amiss, Frau Pastorin, — but she said so. 
And then the weaver was sentenced to 
have ten on his jacket, for our laws, — 
thank God 1 — still have penalties for in- 
famous lying, and the Herr Burgomeister 
talked to him very solemnly, and told him 
he was a master weaver, and he should be 
degraded from his trade; but would he 
confess ? not a bit of it. But so soon as 
he had had his first three on the jacket, he 
fell on his knees, — which was a dreadful 
sight to me, so that I turned away,— and 
said he would confess everything, and he 
did so, since he had not stolen it himself, 
but his wife. The woman had stolen the 
money from the day-laborer, Regel, taking 
the black packet from his waistcoat pocket, 
when he was intoxicated, and hid it in the 
woods, under the moss and bushes, and 
there it had lain for two years, and when- 


ever she went to get wood, she would take 
out a couple of pieces, which she would 
get changed by the help of some of the 
old Jew women, — she has been to Kurz, 
also. And then, perhaps a year and a 
half ago, she met the weaver, and asked 
him if he would not marry her again, for 
she was no longer poor, she had something 
now, and she gave him a double louis- 
d’or ; he would’nt listen to her then, how- 
ever, because at that time he was in love 
with Kahlertsch, — I beg you,’ Frau Pas- 
torin, with Kahlertsch ! They might offer 
me Kahlertsch on a silver salver, I should 
never fall in love with her. But he took 
the louis-d’or, and, she teased him again, 
and made him other presents, till at last 
his inclination began to return to her, and 
he wanted nothing more to do with 
Kahlertsch. And she showed him all her 
treasure, and they changed it about, now 
here and now there, to keep it concealed, 
and finally, this spring, they locked it up 
in a box, and he threw the black cloth into 
the butcher’s compost heap, and they 
buried the treasure in the garden. And 
we went there with the weaver, and found 
fourteen hundred thalers, among the pota- 
toes. Just think of it — fourteen hund- 
red thalers among the potatoes ! They 
had spent the rest of it.” 

“Good heavens I” cried the Frau Pas- 
torin, “ how clever you and the Herr Bur- 
gomeister must have been, to get so much 
out of them.” 

“ So. we are, Frau Pastorin,” said Uncle 
Brasig, quietly. 

“ But the woman ? ” cried the little 
Frau. “ She was the nearest to it.” 

“ Yes, Frau Pastorin, that was an excit- 
ing moment, for the Herr Burgomeister 
had concealed the indicium of the box and 
the gold, under his every-day hat, and 
when the weaver’s wife was confronted 
with her husband, and once more admon- 
ished to tell the truth, and persisted in 
lying, then the Herr Burgomeister lifted 
his hat, and said, ‘ It is no matter, we have 
the money already.’ You see, when she 
saw the box, she flew at the weaver, like 
a fury, and in a moment she had torn his 
whole face, just with her nails, and 
screamed, ‘ Cursed wretch ! I would have 
made him happy, and he has made me un- 
happy ! ’ Frau Pastorin, love is madder 
than jealousy. Kahlertsch never would 
have done that ! But, Frau Pastorin, our 
fish must be quite cold.” 

“ Ah, Briisig, how can you think of any- 
thing like that. But I must go to Haber- 
mann, I must tell him ” 

“ That you are very glad he is so tri- 


250 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


umphantly cleared,” said Brasig, drawing 
her down on the sofa again ; “ so you shall, 
but not yet. For, you see, I believe Ha- 
berm ann has something to tell the Lord, 
and Louise will help him, and that is right 
too, but she is enough ; for, Frau Pas- 
torin, — as Pastorin you should know, — 
our Lord is a jealous God, and when He 
communes with a thankful soul he does 
not suffer that others should approach, 
but draws back, and, where the presence 
of God has shone, human sympathy must 
wait till afterwards.” 

The little Frau Pastorin looked at him 
in astonishment, and finally broke out : 

“ God bless you, Brasig ! I always called 
you an old heathen ; but you are a Chris- 
tian, after all ! ” 

“I don’t know, Frau Pastorin, I don’t 
know what I am. But I know that the 
little I have done, in this matter, I have 
not accomplished as a Christian, but as 
assessor at the criminal court. Bat Frau 
Pastorin, our fish is spoiled by this time, 
and I don’t feel at all hungry. The house 
seems too narrow for me, — adieu, Frau 
Pastorin, I must go out in the fresh air a 
little while.” 


to his heart’s content ; and upon each of 
them Brasig hung a sort of contrivance, 
intended to represent a chandelier, and 
Krischan the coachman climbed about on 
them for a week, in his buckskin breeches, 
adorning them with oak-leaves ; which he 
did very finely, but to the detriment of 
his apparel, since the beams, with their 
I splinters, little by little devoured his buck- 
j skin breeches. 

i Jochen put his hand in his purse, and 
paid the money for the new house, for he 
wanted everything done, for his Mining, 
in the finest manner, and he got Krischan 
a new pair of breeches. 

“ Mother,” he cried to his wife, “ come 1 
look ! What shall we do about it ? ” 

“ Yes, Jochen, it is all very well. But 
there ought to be lights in the chande- 
liers ! ” 

She was going out, when a voice spoke 
to her from the clouds, that is, the oak- 
leaf-clouds, and a face full of light, candle- 
light, bent down to her and said solemnly, 
“It shall all be attended to, Frau Niissler,” 
and as she looked nearer into the clouds, 
she saw the the honest, red face of her old 
angel, Brasig, looking out from the oak- 
leaves and tallow-candles, which he had 


CHAPTER XLI. 

The Friday, on which Rudolph and Mi- 
ning were to be married, had come, and 
the loveliest Whitsuntide weather shone 
upon Rexow, and on the singular edifice 
which Jochen, with the aid of Schultz the 
carpenter, had. constructed near his mod- 
est farm-house. From the outside, the 
affair was not very distinguished looking, 
it was only of boards and laths hammered 
together, and looked uncommonly like a 
building in which wild beasts are exhib- 
ited, at the Leipsic fair. Inside, the work 
of art presented a more stately appear- 
ance, for the boards were covered with 
blue and yellow cloth, half of one color, 
and half of the other, since there was not 
enough of one kind, in Rahnstadt, to cover 
so large a hall; and secondly, it was 
adorned with six notched beams, for on 
no other condition would carpenter 
Schultz undertake the job. There ought, 
properly, he said, to be nine, in such a 
’building as a wedding-hall, but the ex- 
pense would be too great, and since Jo- 
chen did not understand much about 
architecture, and Frau Niissler had enough 
to do with the eating and drinking for the 
wedding, and Brasig was his friend, and 
would not oppose him, because he had 
helped him at the Reformverein, carpen- 
ter Schultz had his own way, like a moth 
in a rug, and built in the notched beams 


strung around his neck, like a clergyman’s 
bands, that he might have his hands free 
to fasten them in their places. 

When this was done, the three stood to- 
gether, and contemplated the effect, and 
Brasig said, “ Truly, Jochen ! ’Tis like a 
fairy palace, out of the ‘ Arabian Nights,’ 
which I read last winter from the circulat- 
ing library ! ” 

And Jochen said, “Yes, Brasig; it is 
all as true as leather ; but it is only for 
one night; for, day after to-morrow, we 
must tear it down.” 

“ That would be barbarous ! ” said the 
carpenter, “ the six notched beams would 
last ages, and the fairies might walk in as 
if they were born and bred there.” 

And the next day came the fairies, not, 
indeed, exactly as Herr Schultz had repre- 
sented, no, they came, at that time, all in 
crinoline, that is' to say, the half-grown, 
horse-hair variety, not with bells and 
springs and bee-hives and steel bird-cages, 
as at present ; but they were beginning, 
even then, and Auntie Klein, from Rostock, 
had put a regular barrel-hoop of tough 
oaken wood, into her petticoat, which 
grazed her sister’s shin3 so unmercifully 
on the way, that the poor woman had to 
stand on one foot through the whole wed- 
ding. But the fairies came, and they had 
wreaths in their hair, of natural flowers, 
and not artificial, which was a pity, for 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 251 


towards the close of the wedding, when 
the feet were weary, and the lovely eyes 
drooped, and the bright clouds of hair 
were tumbled about as if a storm-wind had 
blown through them, then the weary 
flowers drooped their heads and whispered 
to each other, “ I wish it were over ; noth- 
ing gives one such a longing for the quiet 
night, as all this gaiety.” How much bet- 
ter we do things at present ! The artificial 
flowers stand up brisk and livhly, and say, 
“ Always ready I Our stems and strings 
hold out, and when this is over, they will 
lay us away in a box ; and we shall get 
rested, and when another time comes we 
are always ready ! ” Ah, how the world 
has improved! If they could only keep 
fresh and bright the youthful limbs and 
the fresh luugs and the innocent hearts, — 
well, for all me, the whole pretty fairies 
themselves, — with their wires and threads 
and steel springs ! 

Brasig distributed invitations for Frau 
Niissler and Jochen with a free hand, and 
had selected from Rahnstadt and the vi- 
cinity a fine company of neat, willing and 
active dancers, and although there was 
now and then a crooked stick among the 
men, it was no matter, said Uncle Brasig, 
for you could see a man’s legs distinctly 
enough, and could beware of them. Besides 
the Rahnstadters and a few others in the 
region, Jochen Niissler had, through Ru- 
dolph, invited all his relations, a very wide- 
spreading race. Not that they themselves 
were so wide-spreading, I only mean the 
relationship, and they were scattered widely 
over all Mecklenburg and Pommerania. 

There sat uncle Luting, there Uncle 
Krischaning, there Uncle Hanning, and 
there Cousin Wilhelming, — “who is my 
own second cousin, and a very witty 
fellow, when it comes to eating and drink- 
ing,” said Jochen, — and there sat Aunt 
Dining, and Aunt Stining, and Aunt Mi- 
ning, and Aunt Lining, and Aunt Rining, — 
“ and Aunt Zaphie is coming too,” said 
Jochen, “ who was an extremely fine wo- 
man in her day.” “ She has been here 
this great while,” said Brasig. And as one 
stately equipage after another drove up 
to the Rexow court, and the whole Niiss- 
ler family in a company stood around 
Jochen, welcoming each other, and inquir- 
ing how things had gone for the last six- 
teen or twenty years,— for it was as long 
as that since they had seen each other, 
and those who knew how to write never 
did, — Brasig said to Frau Niissler : 

“ A very constant race, these Niisslers ! 
Regular thorough-bred Niisslers! Only 
Jochen is a little different from the rest, 


since he has grown so thin, and so talka- 
tive.” And going into the “temple of 
art,” as carpenter Schultz called his edi- 
fice, and finding the architect sitting there, 
absorbed in admiration of his work and a 
bottle of Bavarian beer, he said, “ Schultz, 
you have done your part, and I have done 
mine ; but, you shall see, Jochen will spoil 
the whole performance, with his stupid re- 
lations, so that it will turn out like a mess 
of sour porridge.” 

“ I have nothing to say about it, being 
only a guest here,” said Herr Schultz, 
“ but if they are what you say, then, out 
with them ! ” 

And Brasig walked up and down the 
garden, like a tree-frog, not that he had on 
a green coat, for he wore his nice brown 
one, with the yellow vest, no, he was like 
a tree-frog only because he prophesied 
foul weather before night. All at once, 
he looked over the garden fence, and saw 
Jochen’s own “ phantom ” approaching, not 
driven by Krischan, but by a day-laborer, 
and looking nearer he saw two women 
sitting in it, and when he looked nearer 
still, there sat his own sister the widow of 
the dairy-farmer Korthals, with her only 
daughter, who lived far away, in straitened 
circumstances, in a village in Pomerania. 

“ God preserve us ! ” he cried, “ my 
own sister ! And her little Lotting, too ! 
This is her doing ! ” and running through 
the kitchen to the hall, he met Frau 
Niissler, and cried, “You have done this 
for me ! Oh, you are ” 

Just then two ladies entered the hall, 
very simply dressed, but both of them 
lovely as pictures; the older, with tears 
of emotion and gratitude running down 
her friendly, true-hearted face, the 
younger, with her fresh, innocent soul 
shining out of great blue eyes, under a 
cloud of golden hair, and asking, “ Where 
is my dear, good Uncle Zachary ? ” for it 
was long years since she had seen him. 

“ Here ! here ! ” he cried, and pul-led 
and pushed his dear relations ^through the 
hall, till he got them up to Frau Niissler, 
and said, “ There she is ; now thank her ! ” 
And when the two had expressed their 
gratitude, and turned round again to took 
for him, he was gone. Like a miller, who 
has started his mill, and poured the corn 
into the hopper, he had crowded his way 
through the stout meal-bags of the Niiss- 
ler family, and now sat in the arbor, in 
the garden, blowing and trumpeting at his 
nose, until Schultz the carpenter decamped 
with his beer-bottle from the temple of 
art, believing that the musicians had ar- 
rived. 


252 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


But they did not come yet ; first came 
Kurz and the rector, each with his good 
old advocate at his side, and when they had 
been presented, and had crowded about, 
for a while, in the room with the Niissler 
family, old Uncle Luting Niissler came 
up to Kurz, in a pompous, overbearing 
way, and said, in a deep voice, “ You can 
congratulate yourself upon being connected 
afresh with such a rich and noble relation- 
ship. Do you see,” and he pointed to 
Uncle Krischan, who had just thrown him- 
self upon the sofa, “ there tumbles a hund- 
red thousand thalers.” 

“I don’t do it for that,’* said Uncle 
Krischan. 

Well, that made Kurz angry, but he re- 
strained himself ; but when Uncle Luting 
went on to ask, “ Have you ever in your 
life seen so many rich people together in 
one company ? ” then Kurz’s wrath broke 
out, and he replied, “ No ! nor ever in my 
life so many blockheads ! ” 

He turned away, and his wife, who had 
heard it, followed him and said, “Kurz, 
I beg you, for God’s sake, don’t begin 
again with your democracy ! It would be 
much better for you to go to bed at once.” 

He would not do that, but he was placed 
under the ban, for the whole evening, by 
all the Niissler family. 

And Pastor Gottlieb came with Lining, 
and they were treated with great respect 
by their elders, because they were to per- 
form the marriage ceremony. Don’t mis- 
understand me ! Not that Lining herself 
was to marry them, not at all! but, for 
once in her life, she had interfered in 
Gottlieb’s professional affairs, and had 
altered his marriage ceremony a little, so 
that Gottlieb said it was not like a Chris- 
tian minister’s speech, it was more like a 
family speech ; but she remained firm in 
her position that as Mining’s twin she 
ought to know what would go most to her 
heart, and Gottlieb had to yield to her. 

Aud now came Habermann, with the 
Frau Pastofin and Louise and the little 
assessor, driving up in a glass coach, for 
the Frau Pastorin had said, “ So, and in no 
other way ! ” She had once been com- 
pelled to decline a wedding invitation from 
Frau Niissler, in her great sorrow, and 
now she would make up for it in her great 
pleasure at this second wedding, and then 
she pressed the hands of Habermann and 
Louise and the little assessor, saying, 
“ Isn’t it so ? We are all happy to-day.” 
So they came to Rexow, and when they 
arrived Habermann saw Brasig’s sister, 
whom he had known years ago, and it was 
not long before they sat together, talk- 


ing of old times, and every other word 
was “ Zachary,” and Louise and the little 
assessor had Lotting between them, and 
every other word was “ Uncle Brasig.” 

Then came a great harvest wagon, with 
flowers and wreaths, Krischan the coach- 
man driving the four horses, in the saddle, 
in his new yellow buckskins, his whip or- 
namented with red and blue ribbons, and 
he himself with a wreath of roses around 
his hat, which looked uncommonly as if the 
old hat were celebrating its fiftieth golden 
wedding, upon this occasion, and on the 
front seat, sat David Berger, the town- 
musician, playing on his clarionet : 

“ Wer niemals sinen Rausch gehabt, 

Das ist kein braver Mann,” 

and behind him sat his companions, blow- 
ing the same tune, though not in the same 
time, for since they sat on the second, 
third and fourth seats they could not pos- 
sibly keep it, since he was always three 
ahead of them ; and when he turned round 
angrily, or Krischan would go faster and 
used his whip, he always got his hair 
pulled, for one of his mischievous compan- 
ions had fastened the handle of the whip 
to his back hair, and when Krischan touched 
the whip, or when he stirred himself, he 
was in constant torment. 

And behind this wagon came another 
harvest wagon, full of white dresses, and 
from under the white dresses peeped 
pretty little dancing feet, and above them, 
on the round heads, nodded roses and 
pinks, which looked out modestly from the 
curly locks, as if they were too bashful to 
glance at the pretty faces. These were the 
little fairies. And right in the the midst of 
the fairies sat the Herr Postmaster, in his 
new uniform, the only one Rahnstadt had 
to show, — otherwise he would not have 
arrived at such an honor, — and sung, gay 
as. a finch, his finest song in this garden 
of roses. Behind this wagon came yet 
another harvest wagon, loaded with gen- 
tlemen, with dancers, the best dancers in 
Rahnstadt, and Kurz’s Herr Sussmann 
danced along the wagon pole in front, and 
the Herr Rector's youngest pupil sat, with 
his legs dangling in the air, behind. 

The guests all looked very joyous, but 
the Frau Hostess was in the greatest per- 
plexity, for she was not acquainted with a 
single one of them, since Brasig had se- 
lected them merely with reference to their 
capacities for dancing, and she called for 
Brasig ; but when he finally came Krischan 
the coachman had brought them ail in, 
and undertook to dispose of them. He 
opened the doors of the kitchen and din- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


ing-room, and shoved them all in : “ In 

with you, there! Take it easy! Get a 
little something to eat and drink ; they are 
not ready yet I ” 

And the advice was good, for the mar- 
riage was delayed a little, because one of 
the groomsmen had not yet arrived, namely 
Fritz Triddelsitz, who at Rudolph’s re- 
quest had been persuaded to remove the 
ban from the Niissler house, and to officiate 
in that capacity. At last he came, riding 
up the court on his dapple-gray and in full 
state, and mingled among the guests with 
so much dignity, and bowed right and 
left with so much elegance, that the rec- 
tor’s foolish little pupil whispered in 
Herr Sussmann’s ear : “ What a pity that 
we are all ready, he might have helped 
us.” Whereupon Herr Sussmann re- 
garded him with a look of compassion, 
and turning to Brasig, who stood at his 
other side, said, “Herr Inspector, have 
you heard that I am chosen dance-direct- 
or for our fraternity ball, day after to- 
morrow ? ” 

Brasig was going to tell him that he 
would be a blockhead if he undertook it, 
for Kurz would discharge him, but he did 
not have time to say it, for just then the 
bridal pair entered the room. 

Rudolph was truly a fine looking bride- 
groom. His fresh, joyous denieanor was 
hidden, to-day, under a quiet earnestness, 
and only the firm resolve under all cir- 
cumstances to fight for his wife and him- 
self, like an honest fellow, shone in his 
brown eyes. Yes, he was a handsome 
bridegroom, for when does a man look 
handsomer than when, full of courage and 
hope, he goes out to his first conflict? 
Who could blame his mother, the good old 
advocate, for going up to him at this 
moment, and kissing him, and stroking his 
brown curls, and secretly pulling out his 
ruffle a little, from the dress coat, so that 
people might see it ? ” 

And now Mining ! Mining looked, in 
her white satin dress and myrtle wreath, 
like a Bauersdorf apple, freshly plucked 
from the tree, and laid in its green leaves 
on a silver salver. Fresh and cool outside, 
as the ripe fruit, but her heart was glow- 
ing, and before Gottlieb had uttered a 
word of the ceremony, there was a pair 
betrothed, — confident hope and quiet 
blessedness had joined hands. And Frau 
Niissler was crying quietly behind her 
handkerchief, and saying to Brasig, “I 
cannot help it, she is my last, my young- 
est.” And Brasig looked at her, full of 
friendliness, and said, “ Frau Niissler, con- 
trol yourself! It will soon be over ; and 


253 

going up to Louise Habermann, he made 
a bow, saying, “ My Friiulein, if you are 
ready, it is time,” — usually he called her 
“ Louise,” but to-day he was a groomsman, 
and must do what was proper. And Fritz 
Triddelsitz went up to the little assessor, 
for she was the other bride’s maid, and 
Kurz and Rector Baldrian placed them- 
selves as leaders by Rudolph, and when 
young Jochen after some delay was shoved 
forward, he stood by his Mining, and on 
his other side stood Habermann, for they 
were the two leaders for the bride, — and 
then the procession moved to carpenter 
Schultz’s temple of art, where Gottlieb 
stood behind a green and white altar, and 
began to read Lining’s marriage cere- 
mony. 

I know very well that a marriage at 
home is not thought much of, — now-a- 
days all marriages must be celebrated in 
church, and I have nothing against it, for I 
was married in church myself about that 
time, since my wife was a minister’s daugh- 
ter, and would not have it otherwise ; but, 
as I was saying, at that time this kind of 
marriage ceremony had not been estab- 
lished in Mecklenburg by the ecclesiastical 
consistory, and the old modes were still in 
fashion, and children were married as their 
parents had been. New modes were in 
fashion too, as Krischan Schultz said, when 
he fastened his horse by the tail; but 
Gottlieb knew nothing about them, and if 
he had known about them, and had wished 
to fasten his horse in the new mode, Li- 
ning would not have allowed it ; Lining was 
a married woman, but she would not allow 
her other half to disgrace himself before 
these rich, stout, stupid Niisslers, and the 
Rahnstadt shopmen and school-boys, or 
that her twin sister should have her mar- 
riage feast spoiled by an ecclesiastical con- 
sistory, although she was the most dig- 
nified of pastors’ wives, that is, after the 
Frau Pastorin, who was always the near- 
est. 

After the ceremony, the two little twin- 
apples lay in each other’s arms, in full, 
untroubled blessedness, and Rudolph em- 
braced them both together, and Frau 
Niissler stood a little aside, looking over 
her handkerchief, with her head turned 
over our shoulder, as if she were listening 
to something, — possibly the angel’s song, 
— and as the stout, rich, stupid Niisslers 
pressed around, with their congratulations, 
young Jochen stood among them and bowed 
to this one and that, as if it were his own 
wedding-day over again : “ Uncle Luting, it 
is my Mining! Cousin Wilhelming, it is 
our little governess 1 Aunt Zaphie, what 


254 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


shall we do about it ! ” These people 
crowded up, the men with their bright 
waistcoats, and gold watch-chains across 
their breasts, and the women with whole 
flower-pots on their caps, and some of 
them with dropping eyes, as if the flower- 
pots had been watered too plentifully, and 
were running over. And the men and the 
women of Jochen’s family kissed, alter- 
nately, Rudolph and Mining, as if before 
all things they must be taken into this 
rich, stout, stupid relationship, so that 
Kurz at last grew terribly angry, because 
he could not reach his new daughter-in- 
law, and for once his good old advocate 
agreed with him, because she could not 
reach her own son. And the Rahnstadt 
dancers also crowded about and wandered 
around the pair, and what else could they 
do ? they could not have their kisses yet ; 
and among this company stood Fritz Trid- 
delsitz with the little assessor, tall and 
slender and imposing, not as a groomsman, 
no, as commander of the whole, and be- 
hind him stood the rector’s little pupil, 
imitating with his short body and black 
woolen stockings all the motions that Fritz 
made with his long body and black silk 
stockings. He was Fritz’s natural shadow, 
that is, at noon-day, when shadows are 
short. 

Near by stood two other couples, who 
were not crowding up, for they were suf- 
ficiently occupied with themselves, and 
had time to spare ; these were Haber- 
mann and his Louise, and Uncle Brasig 
and the Frau Pastorin. Louise lay with 
her head on her father’s breast, looking 
up to him, as if she had been long ill, and 
had been brought out from her couch, for 
the first time, into the free air, and the 
blue sky seemed to say: “Better days! 
better days ! ” and her face looked as 
peaceful and happy as the blue sky, and 
sun and moon and stars might wander 
there, and dew and rain might fall, to re- 
fresh and rejoice and enlighten mankind. 
Close to this pair stood Zachary Brasig, 
with his arm round the little Frau Pasto- 
rin, and his eyebrows elevated, and he 
blew his nose, and said, “My little Mi- 
ning ! My little goddaughter ! How 
happy she is ! ” and every time that one 
of the old, stout Niisslers gave Mining a 
kiss, he bent down to the Frau Pastorin, 
and gave her a kiss, as if he must make 
up to this good old lady what the stupid 
old people were inflicting upon Mining. 

“ You see, because ! ” as our servant maid, 
Lisette, says, here in Eisenach, when she 
can think of no other reason. And so 
Brasig kissed the Frau Pastorin, and 


the Frau Pastorin suffered it, with 
out thinking any harm ; but when Aunt 
Zaphie, who had formerly been very 
handsome, and a sort of Venus among the 
Niisslers, gave Rudolph three or four 
kisses, the little Frau Pastorin was start- 
led, and when Brasig approached his lips 
again, in such a friendly way, she said, 
“ Brasig, you ought to be ashamed of your- 
self! What have you particularly to do 
with me V ” 

And Brasig drew back embarrassed, and 
said, “ Frau Pastorin, don’t take it un- 
kindly, but my feelings ran away with me,” 
and he brought the Frau Pastorin to 
Habermann, saying, “Karl, you must ex- 
change. Louise is my bride’s maid, and I 
am a bachelor, and you and the Frau Pas- 
torin are both widowers, and that is suit- 
able.” 

Mining had taken her Rudolph by the 
hand, and, when she saw her dearest and 
oldest friends standing a little on one side, 
had made various efforts to penetrate the 
sand-bags of stout, rich, stupid Niisslers, 
and the wooden palisades of shopmen and 
school-boys, but without success ; but 
when her brand new husband saw her fu- 
tile manoeuvres, he came to her assistance, 
shoved aside sand-bag No. 1, the rich 
Uncle Luting, and sand-bag No. 2, the 
witty cousin Wilhelming, grasped the 
longest palisade, Fritz Triddelsitz himself, 
in the short ribs, and moved him gently to 
another place, and neatly sent his pupil- 
shadow after him, and having thus made a 
breach through obstinacy, stupidity and 
tedium, — certainly no easy thing to do, — 
he brought his brand new bride to the 
people, who instead of congratulating her 
with flower-pots, and gay waistcoats and 
gold watch-chains, did it with what lies 
beneath them, their heads and their hearts. 
And when Frau Niissler came up, and 
ressed her children, alternately, to her 
eart, Rudolph wiped the tears from his 
eyes, and said, “ Let us all come out into 
the garden, and be by ourselves a little 
while.” 

And the carpenter, Schultz, who stood 
near and heard him, said : “ Yes, out with 
you ! All of you, out ! We must set the 
tables here ! ” and he began to shove the 
rich Niisslers about as if they were blocks 
and lumber. And when our company, — 

I say our — had come to the famous arbor, 
Brasig pointed to the cherry-tree, and said, 
“Mining, this tree must be an indicium 
and a token to you, all your life, since 
your future was decided under it, and un- 
der me that time ; and since we are talk- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


ing about tokens, Mining, bring me a blue 
larkspur again, there is one ! ” 

And when Mining had gone for it Uncle 
Brasig said, “ Rudolph, have you always 
remembered the blue larkspur?” And 
when Rudolph said he had, Brasig looked 
in his clear eyes, and then examined him 
from head to foot, and said, “ I believe 
you ! ” and when Mining came back with 
the flower he said, “Thank you, Mining! 
And now I will give you my wedding 
present for it,” and he pulled out an old, 
thick, black pocket-book from his brown 
coat, and rummaged among his old milk 
and corn accounts, and took out a withered 
flower, saying, “See, my little godchild, 
this is the flower of that time,” — and he 
held it towards her with the fresh blossom, 
— “ and if, after long years, Rudolph can 
look at you with the same clear eyes, and 
give you this new flower, then you may 
say, ‘ I have been a happy wife.' I have 
nothing more to say, nothing ! and I have 
nothing else to give you, nothing at all ! ” 
and with that he walked away, and our 
company heard him saying to himself, 
“Nothing at all ! but this indicium, Ru- 
dolph’s indicium ! ” And when they found 
him again, he was walking with his sister 
and his niece Lotting, and the two women 
were caressing and thanking him, because 
he had never forgotten or forsaken them. 

Then Frau Nussler came up to our com- 
pany : “ Come children, all is ready. But 
don’t take it ill ! Jochen’s family are the 
most distinguished, and I cannot offend 
Jochen to-day, — he is master for this once, 
— they must sit nearest the bridal pair. 
Kurz and his wife, of course, will sit 
among them, for, as you say, Frau Pasto- 
rin, they are the nearest, and Gottlieb and 
Lining must also sit there, he as clergy- 
man, and she as twin, and Jochen, too, be- 
cause they are his friends. But we, Frau 
Pastorin, Karl, Louise, and you, Brasig ! 
we will sit together at one end, and it 
shall be a merry wedding.” 

“A la bong kor ! ” said Brasig, “but 
where is the shopman, Sussmann?I must 
speak to him about the fraternity ball.” 

“ Oh, bless you ! the poor fellow is 
sitting in the back kitchen ; he and Trid- 
delsitz were performing some kind of an- 
tics over a heap of pea-straw, and he fell, 
and something split, and Krischan had to 
get him Jochen’s old blue trousers, and he 
will not let himself be seen by daylight, 
but is waiting until evening, when they 
will not noticed.” 

“ And he wants to be dance-director ! ” 
said Brasig, as he followed our company 
to the hall. 


255 

Then the feast began, and Frau Nussler’s 
little waiting-maids, with their fresh faces 
and three-cornered caps, and white bib- 
aprons, ran about the temple of art, and 
turned and whirled like humming tops, — - 
for the old waiters with their shabby 
black dress-coats, and white neck-ties a la 
turkey-cock, and white cotton gloves which 
are always dipping into the gravy, were 
not the fashion then, — and the stout 
Nusslers sat there and ate, as if there were 
a French commissary in their stomachs, 
provisioning an army for a Russian cam- 
paign, and when they had finished the 
fricassee they began on the pudding, and 
when they had disposed of the pudding 
they attacked the roasted pigeons and 
sparrows, and wondered that the pigeons 
in Mecklenburg were not as large as the 
geese, and murmured against providence 
because sparrows were not as thick as 
hops, and when the roast meat came, 
Cousin Wilhelming, the wit of the Nussler 
family, stood up and clinked his glass, and 
cried, “ Quiet ! ” three times, and holding 
up his glass said, “To the health of the 
old General Knusemongfque nous aimons), 
who has been a very distinguished gen- 
eral, and is so to this day ! ” and with that 
he looked towards the young pair, blink- 
ing with his left eye at Mining, and with 
his right at Rudolph. And Uncle Luting 

— understand me, the rich Uncle Luting 

— stood up expressly for the purpose, and 
said, “ Wilhelming, you are a devilish 
fellow ! ” And Brasig said to the Frau 
Pastorin, “ Frau Pastorin, I know you are 
opposed to the Reform, but I assure you 
the witty shoemaker in the Reform would 
have done it much better!” And Frau 
Nussler sat on thorns and thistles, in dis- 
tress lest Jochen should take it into his 
head to make a speech; but Jochen re- 
strained himself, his speeches were not for 
the world at large, they were only for 
the neighborhood, and all he said was, 
“ Wilhelming, fill Luting’s glass ! Luting, 
help Wilhelming ! ” 

And when the punch-bowls were placed 
on the table, and the champagne came, 
the old Nusslers looked at the labels, and 
said they had just such in their cellars, and 
Fritz Triddelsitz and the Herr Shopmen 
and the Herr Pupils drank one glass .after 
another, losing no time, until the left wing 
of the wedding-army became so uproarious 
that the little assessor remarked to the 
commander of these light troops, to Fritz 
Triddelsitz, that if they were to attack the 
enemy in that condition they would be 
obliged to retreat, and when Fritz was mak- 
1 ing arrangements to withdraw his forces, 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


256 

then there happened a diversion, for him 
and for the whole company. Well, just to 
think what clever things an ignorant 
beast will do sometimes I Bauschan, Jo- 
chen’s Bauschan, our old Bauschan was 
sitting with a green wreath about his 
neck, and another about his tail, — for 
Krischan the coachman had dressed him 
up for the occasion, — on the green and 
white altar, which was behind the bridal 
pair, and where Gottlieb and Lining had 
married them, and he thrust his dignified 
autocratic face between their heads and 
licked Mining with his tongue, and struck 
Rudolph with his tail, and then licked 
Rudolph, and struck Mining. And when 
he had done this, the old fellow settled 
down again upon the altar with the great- 
est dignity, looking as if he were well con- 
tented with the whole affair, but meant to 
sit there a little longer, for his own pleas- 
ure. Jochen sprang up : “ Bauschan, for 
shame ! Down with you ! ” But Uncle 
Brasig sprang up also, saying; “Jochen, 
do you treat your best friend like that, on 
this solemn occasion ? ” and turning to 
Pastor Gottlieb, he added : “ Herr Pastor, 
let Bauschan alone I When the beast 
shows his affection, here on this Christian 
altar, the beast knows something that we 
don’t. And Bauschan is a clever dog 1 I 
know it; for when I heard about the love- 
affairs, up in the cherry-tree, he heard them 
from below, for he was lying in the arbor, 
under the bench. Herr Pastor, this Bau- 
schan is certainly a marriage witness, for 
he was there when they were betrothed.” 

Gottlieb turned pale at the scandalous 
idea, but did not break out into a sermon 
this time, for there was suddenly a hum- 
ming and buzzing, as of a swarm of bees ; 
everybody had risen, and began to remove 
chairs and tables, — “ Out I out 1 ” cried car- 
penter Schultz, — and dishes and platters, 
and the rector’s youngest pupil tumbled 
down with a great pile of Frau Nussler’s 
china plates, and the fragments clattered 
through the hall, and he stood looking at 
his work, and feeling in his vest-pocket for 
treasures which were as much concealed 
from his own eyes as from those of other 
people, and as Frau Niissler passed by and 
saw the performance he turned very red, 
and said he would gladly pay for them, 
but he hadn’t so much by him. And Frau 
Niissler patted him kindly on the shoul- 
der and said, “ Oh, nonsense ! But you 
must be punished ! ” and she took him by 
the hand and led him to Br'asig’s niece 
Lotting, and said, “You shall dance out 
my plates here, this evening.” And he 
paid his debt honestly. 


Then the dancing began. First the 
Polonaise. Fritz Triddelsitz had the lead 
for Hear Siissmann was not yet visible, 
and what a dance he led them ! Through 
the hall, and through the garden, and 
through the kitchen, and the entry, and 
the living room and the sleeping rooms, 
and back into the garden again, and into 
the hall went the procession, until Jochen’s 
stout relations were quite out of breath, 
and Brasig called out to him, why didn’t 
he take the barn-yard by the way ? And 
Jochen Niissler danced, third couple, with 
Aunt Zaphie in her flower-pot on one side, 
and Banschan in his wreath on the other, 
and he looked between them like a pearl 
in a golden setting, or an ass between two 
bundles of hay. And when the Polonaise 
was over, David Berger played the slowest 
of waltzes, “ Thou, thou reign’st in this 
bosom, There, there, hast thou thy throne,” 
and another band answered out of the dis- 
tance : “ Our cat has nine kits,” and as he 
played on : “ Speak, speak, Love, I implore 
thee ! Say, say, hope shall be mine ! ” — ■ 
came the answer from the distance : “ Son 
and daughter, Into the water I ” — and so 
on, for Frau Niissler had given orders 
that there should be dancing in the milk- 
cellar also, and there sat old Hartloff, with 
his one eye, and Wichmann the joiner, and 
Ruhrdanz the weaver, and all the rest ; 
and Hartloff had helped them all to a good 
drink, and told them not to be discouraged, 
they could cope with such a city band as 
that, any day, and so they did their best, 
and Krischan the coachman kept them 
supplied with liquor. And when the fun 
was at its height, Rudolph and Mining 
came into the milk-cellar, and Mining 
danced with Krischan, and Rudolph with 
the cook, and the bailiff got up a hurrah 
for the married pair, and Hartloff fiddled 
so madly that Ruhrdanz tried in vain to 
keep up with him on the clarionet, and 
finally gave up in despair. And when the 
bridal pair had gone, Krischan stood be- 
hind the door with the cook, arguing the 
matter. 

“ Diirt, what must be, must.” 

“ Eh, Krischan, what do you want ? ” 

“ Diirt, we are a bridal pair too, and 
what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the 
gander ; we must show ourselves on this 
occasion, they cannot take it ill of us.” 

And Diirt said it was very disagreeable 
to her, and, if she must do it, she would 
rather dance with Inspector Briisig, for she 
knew him ; and Krischan said, for all he 
cared, and he would dance with the Frau. 
And nobody thought it anything out of 
the way, in the temple of art, when Kri- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


schan stood up with Frau Nussler and 
Brasig with Diirt, and danced as merrily 
as the rest. So it was, in those times, and 
’tis a pity it is so no longer, — at least not 
in many places. Great joy and profound 
grief bring high and low together : why 
should a master who wishes his laborers to 
mourn at his funeral not share his pleasures 
with them also ? 

It was a joyful occasion, and I could not 
possibly describe the pleasure which filled 
every heart, as the young feet danced 
merrily about, and hands silently pressed 
each other. I only know that Fritz Trid- 
delsitz stood there as commander-in-chief, 
and that the little assessor at his side 
very often blushed, and after the dance 
ran to Louise, as if to seek her protection. 
I only know that the little pupil got 
knocked over several times, in the dance, 
because he was lost in arithmetical calcu- 
lations, how he, when his predecessor 
came to be sexton, and he should be ap- 
pointed school-master, might live with the 
greatest economy, and rent a bit of potato- 
land from the shoemaker at four shillings 
17 


257 

the square rood, and if the rich Uncle 
Br'asig could help them with a few thalers, 
perhaps he might marry the lovely blue 
eyes and the golden hair which looked up 
to him so joyously, and in the confusion 
of the dance got entangled in his black 
coat, which was about one third paid for 
at Kurz’s shop. I only know that the only 
unhappy being, in the whole company, 
was Herr Siissmann, and he only when his 
eyes happened to fall upon Jochen’s old 
blue trousers. 

Yes, it was a joyful occasion ; but every- 
thing has its end ; the little fairies and 
the shopmen and school-boys and the 
dancers, and David Berger with the musi- 
cians, drove off home, — the old people 
had gone before, — and Jochen placed him- 
self at the head of his relations, and 
showed them to their quarters, and Frau 
Niissler took the ladies to their rooms, 
and every married lady had her nice bed ; 
but the ummarried ones, with Aunt Zaphie 
at their head, had to sleep in the great 
blue room, en table d'hote. 


258 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER XLII. 

The Sunday after the wedding the 
young Frau von Rarabow was busy in the 
morning with her housekeeping, and wrote 
down her expenses in her account book, 
and then sat in deep thought, till she was 
wholly disheartened with vague distress 
and anxiety, for she felt certain that 
things were going badly with Axel ; but 
she had no idea of the desperate condition 
at which they had really arrived, through 
his unwise management, for her worst sus- 
picions and anxieties fell far short of the 
truth. She merely inferred from his un- 
steady, hasty demeanor, and the restless- 
ness which drove him hither and thither, 
that he was in great difficulty. That it 
was the most extreme difficulty, that the 
knife was at his throat, and a slight acci- 
dent, a little maliciousness, might finish 
the business, she truly did not dream. He 
had told her nothing ; he had ordered 
horses to be put to the carriage that 
morning, and had gone off for three days. 
Where ? Why ? Those were questions 
that no longer passed her lips, for why 
should she knock at a door from which 
issued only falsehood and evasion ? She 
closed her account book with a sigh, and 
said to herself, “ What is the use V A wo- 
man’s hands cannot prop up a falling 
house.” And as she saw Fritz Triddelsitz, 
through the window, strolling wearily and 
sleepily across the yard, she let her hands 
fall in her lap, saying, “ And all the man- 
agement depends on him ; and it is fortunate 
too, for he is honest, and has been brought 
up by Habermann. Ah, Habermann ! Ha- 
bermann ! ” she cried, and mournful and 
remorseful thoughts overcame her, and en- 
closed her in their grasp. Who has not, 
some time in his life, passed such an hour, 
when one thought crowds upon the heels 
of another, like the ghosts of by-gone 
days, and all point with their fingers to 
the weak places in Our hearts ? They will 
not stir nor move, they stand like wall 
and mortar, ever pointing to the place, 
and connecting our present trouble with 
that place, and calling in our ears, this is 
the consequence, why hast thou acted 
thus ? And what she had done, had been 
only out of love ; but the ghosts did not 
turn any for that, — what does a ghost 
know of love ? 

As she sat there, Daniel Sadenwater 
came in, and announced the Herr Proprie- 
tor Pomuchelskopp. The Herr was not at 
home, Frida said. He had told him so, 
said Daniel, but the Herr Pomuchelskopp 
had said expressly, he wished to speak 


with the gracious Frau. “I will come di- 
rectly,” said Frida. She would not have 
said that usually, but at the moment she 
was glad to escape from her gloomy 
thoughts ; she had a great aversion to 
Pomuchelskopp, but still he was a flesh 
and blood man, he was none of her grisly 
ghosts. 

But she would not have done it, if she 
had known what awaited her. Pomuchel 
had previously, and at last on that very 
morning, held wise counsel with David 
and Slusuhr, and they were agreed in this 
conclusion : that it would be best for him 
to buy the estate of Axel, at private sale ; 
“ For ” said Pomuchelskopp, “ if it comes 
to an auction, they will put it up too high 
for me. Ah, how they would drive it up ! 
the old nobility would come together, and 
some of them have a great deal of money, 
— and they stick to each other, like 
burs, — and they would pay his debts, if 
it came to the hammer, or buy it in for 
him.” 

“ You must look out for them,” said 
Slusuhr. 

“ No ! no ! ” cried Pomuchelskopp. “ If 
I can get it quietly, that is the best way. 
He is as mellow, as mellow as a rotten ap- 
ple, and I know him, he never looks over 
the fence, he only reaches after the 
nearest thing, and if I offer him a good 
bit of money, enough to pay his debts 
and have a little left over, he will take it.” 

“ You forget one thing,” said the notary, 
“ she is there still.” 

“ Oh, she knows nothing about it,” said 
Muchel. “ Fortunate for us, else it would 
not have gone so far. She looked at me 
once, — when they had that fuss about 
the stolen money, — with a pair of eyes 
that I shall never forget, so long as I 
live.” 

“Well,” said David, “ what of that? she 
is a woman, — not such a woman as Frau 
Pomuchelskopp, for she is a dreadfully 
clever woman, — she is a noble lady, she 
knows a great deal about some things, 
and nothing at all about others. If he is 
mellow, well, she must be made mellow 
too.” 

David’s advice prevailed ; yes, when the. 
poor lady should learn all, blow upon 
blow, then she must become pliable in 
their hands, then she would not oppose 
the sale of the estate ; and it was decided 
that Pomuchelskopp should make a be- 
ginning, and the others should fellow him, 
that very morning ; they knew that Axel 
was not at home. 

When the Frau von Rambow went 
down to Pomuchelskopp, he looked as 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


259 


gentle and compassionate as if he were a 
clergyman, come to condole with her up- 
on her mother’s death; he stretched out 
both hands with a cordial gesture, as if he 
would take her hand in his, and press it 
warmly. Not getting her hand, however, 
he folded his own together, and regarded 
her with such a fatherly expression, in his 
old fat eyes, as a crocodile assumes when 
he is just ready to cry. 

He had come, he said, as an old friend, 
as a true neighbor, to speak with the Herr 
von Rainbow ; the business was very press- 
ing, and since the young Herr was not at 
home, it was necessary that he should 
speak wi.h the gracious lady. It would 
be a great grief to him, if he, as a neigh- 
bor, could not help, when there was such a 
misfortune in prospect as the public auction 
sale of Pumpelhagen. 

Frida started back, exclaiming, “ Sale of 
Pumpelhagen ! ” 

And now Pomuchelskopp looked like an 
unfortunate, innocent mother, who has 
overlaid her child in sleep ; “ God bless 
me!” he cried, “what have I done! I 
believed, gracious Frau, that you knew 
already ” 

“I know nothing,” said Frida, pale, but 
firm, and looking at the old sinner as if 
she would look him through ; “ I know 
• nothing, but I wish to know all. Why 
should Pumpelhagen be sold ? ” 

“ Gracious lady,” said the Herr Proprie- 
tor, almost wringing his hands, “ the many 
debts ” 

“ Whom is my husband indebted to ? ” 

“ I believe, to many people.” 

“ To yourself, also ? ” 

And now it seemed as if a sluice were 
drawn up in Pomuchelskopp’s heart, and 
the streams of friendliness, which had been 
accumulating for long years, were poured 
out at once upon the house of Pumpelha- 
gen. Yes, he said, he had also demands 
upon him, but the money which he had 
loaned had been given out of friendship, 
and so it should remain. He had merely 
come over, this morning, to give the young 
Herr good advice, how the business might 
be managed, and if possible to help him 
out of his difficulties. So far as he knew, 
it was Moses who insisted on the sale, and 
if his mouth could be stopped everything 
might be settled. And as he took leave, 
he said, very kindly, with such a dignified 
shaking of the head, and much blinking of 
the ^yes, as if to repress tears, if he had 
known that the gracious lady knew noth- 
ing about it, he would rather have pulled 
out his tongue than have uttered a word 
on the subject. 


If it had been a matter with which she 
was less nearly connected, she must have 
perceived the falseness of Pomuchelskopp’s 
behavior ; but she had only a vague feeling 
of it, for distress and terror prevented her 
from seeing clearly. She felt as if the 
house had been shaken by an earthquake, 
as if the walls, which had hitherto pro- 
tected from the storm, were ready to fall 
upon her and her child, and bury, beneath 
themselves, the' little happiness she still 
hoped for in the future. She must get out 
into the open air, into the garden ; and 
there she walked up and down in the cool 
shade, thinking and thinking, and it seemed 
to her as if the very shadows cast by the 
trees were hers no longer, or even the 
flowers blooming at her feet, which she 
herself had planted. She sat down on the 
same bench where her father-in-law, the old 
Kammerrath, had sat, when he told Haber- 
mann of his troubles ; Habermann had 
helped then, — where was Habermann 
now ? The same tree shadowed her, which 
she had first seen from the distance when 
Axel had so proudly pointed out to her his 
fair estate ; where was this pride ? where 
was the estate ? To whom did this tree 
belong ? 

She sat there for a moment, as she 
thought, but the moment lasted two hours. 
She heard steps approaching on the Gur- 
litz pathway, and started to go ; but before 
she could get away the notary and David 
stood before her. Slusuhr was a little 
startled, coming unawares upon the wo- 
man whom he was about, to put to the 
torture ; but David grinned like a monkey, 
into whose hand an apple had fallen unex- 
pectedly. The notary went up to the gra- 
cious lady with great respect, and with a 
low bow inquired if they could speak with 
the gracious Herr. 

“ He is away from home,” said Frida. 

“ It is very necessary that we should see 
him,” said David. Slusuhr looked at 
David over his shoulder, as if to say, 
“ Will you hold your stupid tongue ? ” but 
he repeated the same words : 

“ Yes, gracious lady, it is necessary that 
we should see him.” 

“ Then you must come again on Wednes- 
day ; Herr von Rainbow is coming back on 
Tuesday,” and she turned to go. 

The notary stepped before her, saying, 
“ The business is not so much ours, as the 
Herr von Rambow’s ; perhaps a messenger 
might be sent after him. It is really a 
very pressing case. We know of a pur- 
chaser for Pumpelhagen, a thoroughly safe 
man, who wishes, however, a definite an- 
swer, within three days, whether Herr von 


260 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


Rambow will dispose of the estate at pri- 
vate sale, or let it come to an auction, at 
the end of the term. The Herr, here, is 
the son of Moses, who has given notice of 
his money for St. John’s day, and through 
me, as his man of business, urges the pri- 
vate sale.” 

Of course this was all a tissue of lies. 
The fair young Frau stood still and looked 
at the two rascals ; her first fright was 
over, and all the pride of her innocent 
soul rose against this undeserved misfor- 
tune. 

“ Gracious lady,” said David, after he 
had fumbled at his watch-chain a while, 
in great embarrassment under her steady 
gaze, “ bethink yourself; there is my father 
with the seven thousand thalers, — with 
the interest and costs, it amounts to eight, 
— there is Herr Pomuchelskopp’s eight 
thousand thalers, there are the trades- 
people at Rahnstadt, — we have the ac- 
counts by us, — three thousand, then there 
are the bills of exchange, and, here and 
there, ten thousand more, owing, — well, 
what do I know ? perhaps to Israel at 
Schwerin. If you should sell, now, to a 
safe man, and you could sell the furniture, 
and the beds, and the linen, you would 
have ten thousand thalers over, or perhaps 
eleven, or, for all I know, even twelve 
thousand. And then, if you should move 
to Rahnstadt, and rent a house there, you 
would have nothing to do, and could live 
like a countess.” 

Frida said nothing, but bowed coldly to 
the two companions, and went into the 
house. Nothing drives a high spirit to 
defend itself and to present a brave front 
to the world, like the rude intrusion of 
the world into one’s private affairs. Then 
the foot advances to tread upon the head 
of the adder, and pride and honor and a 
good conscience turn out all other emotions 
which have restlessly worked in the heart, 
and there is no longer strife, there is calm 
repose ; but it is like the repose of 
death. 

“ There she goes, like- a princess ! ” said 
David. 

“ You blockhead, you ! ” cried Slusuhr. 

“ Well, I will never, in my life, go on any 
business again with such a dunce.” 

“ Why, what is the matter ? asked David. 

“ Didn't we do just that way with the 
peasant at Kanin, and the matter was 
settled at once ? ” 

“ Yes, with a peasant. But did you 
come into the world yesterday, that you 
don’t know that a noble lady is no peasant ? 
We wanted to make her mellow and plia- 
ble — well, much good may it do you ! we 


| have only stiffened her neck. If it had 
come over him in that way, he would have 
said yes to everything; but,” he added, 
rather to himself than to David, “there 
are men, —yes, and women, truly, — who 
are really strong, for the first time, under 
misfortune.” 

As they returned to the Herr Proprietor, 
and he learned how the young Frau had 
received them, he was greatly enraged. 

“ Good heavens ! ” said he to David, 
“how is it possible you could go about 
such a critical business in such a rough 
way? You should merely have bored 
and pricked and teased her, instead of set- 
ting her whole future life before her. God 
bless me ! I had it all so nicely in train ; 
and now, you shall see, when he comes home 
she will stiffen his back up as well, and the 
end will be, it will come to an auction.” 

“ Then you can buy it,” said Slusuhr. 

“No, no! They will drive it up too 
high for me, and it joins so finely to my 
estate ! ” So the worthy Herr complained 
and disputed with the others, and con- 
sulted what should be done, and how they 
could manage it. 

In another part of Gurlitz, there were 
also consultations going on. In weaver 
Ruhrdanz’s room, day-laborers and day- 
laborers wives were sitting together, and 
the talk that went round was not hasty 
and reckless, but thoughtful and deliber- 
ate, though venomous. 

“ Well, what do you say, brother ? ” 

“ Eh, what should one say ? He must 
be got rid of, he is a regular skinner ! Well, 
now you, Ruhrdanz ? ” 

“ You are right there, I say so, too ; he 
must be got rid of! But, friends, you 
should see, they would send him back to 
us again. If we only had papers about it, 
so that he dare not come back.” 

“ Oh, your stupid papers ! ” cried a 
great rough woman, from behind the 
stove, “when you come home, in the even- 
ings, from the city, with your heads full 
of brandy, you are ready to do great 
things, and afterwards you flop together, 
like a dish-cloth. What ? Must I send 
my children about the country, begging ? 

I have had no bread, for three days, 
but such as the children have brought 
home.” 

“Things are a little better than they 
were, though,” said old father Brink- 
man. 

“Yes,” cried Willgans, “but from fear, 
not from kindness. We will go up to the 
court, each with a good staff, and there we 
will teach him to know the Lord, and then 
we will lead him over the boundary, and 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


261 


give him a start on the way : ‘ There ! now 
travel ! ’ ” 

“ What ? ” cried Kapphingst, “ and that 
Satan of a woman, who almost killed my 
girl about an old chicken, will you let her 
stay V ” 

“ Aud the old girls,” cried a young wo- 
man, “ who tormented us so, when we were 
servants at the court, and seemed like mer- 
ciful angels in the parlor, when there was 
company, and knocked us round in the 
kitchen, like regular devils, — shall they 
stay too V ” 

“ We must get rid of the whole con- 
cern,” said Willgans. 

“ No, children, no ! ” said old Brink- 
man. “ Do not meddle with the innocent 
children ! ” 

“Yes,” said Ruhrdanz’s old wife, who 
sat by herself, peeling potatoes for dinner, 
“ you are right, Brinkman, and Gustaving 
must stay too; I saw him bringing old 
Schultz a measure of potatoes, secretly ; 
and when he measures the land for 
potatoes and flax, he always gives a couple 
of rods more than he does ; and, Willgans, 
see ! your oldest boy wears a pair of his 
outgrown breeches, at this moment. He 
cannot do as he would, the old man looks 
after him too closely. No, against Gusta- 
ving and the little ones, nobody must lift 
a hand.” 

“ Mother, I say so, too,” said Ruhrdanz. 
“ And, let me tell you something, we must 
do everything regularly ! The others are 
not here now; this evening we will talk 
about it again. He will not be at home ; 
Johann Jochen had to get the glass coach 
ready, they are going to the ball, in the 
city, this evening; then we can talk it 
over.” 

“ Yes,” cried the great rough woman, 
“ yes, talk and talk ! You drink your 
heads full of brandy, and we are starving. 
If you don’t get rid of these people, we 
shall do it, for we can do as other women 
have done, all over the country; thorn- 
bushes and nettle-stalks are not far to 
seek.” With that, she went out of the 
door, and the company dispersed. 

“Bernhard,” said Ruhrdanz’s wife to 
him, “ the matter may turn out badly.” 

“So I say, mother, and you are quite 
right; but if the business is only con- 
ducted with regularity, the grand-duke 
can have nothing against it. The only 
trouble is that we have no proper papers 
to show; but if he should have to show 
his papers, fine papers they would be.” 

Ruhrdanz was right ; as for the grand- 
duke, I don’t know about that ; but he was 
riofit about the glass coach, and Pomuchels- 


kopp’s journey to the ball ; for towards 
evening the Herr Proprietor sat in the 
coach, in his blue dress-coat, and his brave, 
old Hauning sat by him, looking, in her 
yellow-brown silk, like one of her own 
cookies, with all sorts of scalloped flour- 
ishes, though the soapy flavor was lacking; 
she was as dry and tough as a leather 
strap, and her bones clattered over the 
rough roads, like a bunch of hazelnuts, 
hung in the chimney-corner. Opposite 
sat the two fair daughters, sumptuously 
arrayed ; but greatly vexed, because their 
father positively insisted upon taking ^ 
them to this ball, a burgher ball. To pun- ‘ 
ish him for it, they made no effort to 
amuse him, and talked of the burghers as 
canaille , and also wrought vengeance upon 
his shins, by the way, by means of the 
new hoops in their crinoline, which the 
wheelwright had put in freshly, that 
morning, of stout hazel stock. Gustaving 
sat by the coachman, Johann Jochen, on 
the box. 

I cannot think of dancing, this evening, 
with my pretty readers, at the fraternity 
ball, I am too old, and besides, it is only 
three days since Rudolph’s wedding, where 
I did my utmost. I will merely go as a 
spectator, and enjoy the pleasant summer 
evening, on the bench before Grammelin’s 
door ; I can look into the hall for a few 
moments, later in the evening, and drink a 
glass of punch, and fraternize a little, like 
the rest. 

There were great doings at Grammelin’s. 
All the grandees of Rahnstadt were there, 
the burghers, head and tail and neck and 
crop, a few proprietors, Pomuchelskopp 
at the head, a few noblemen and their 
sons, — their wives were not there, they 
were all troubled with corns that after- 
noon, and the daughters were absent from 
home, — the pachters in the neighborhood, 
and the young country people came in 
crowds. Very few of our friends were to 
be seen, for it was church-going with 
Jochen Niissler’s family, and the Frau 
Pastorin and Habermann and Louise had 
gone out there, and Rector Baldrian and 
Kurz, with their wives and Brasig, had 
also gone, but had returned in time to go 
to the ball. Kurz did not go, however, 
for he had been so provoked over Jochen’s 
stout relations, that his wife put him to 
bed, which was a good thing, not only for 
himself, but for Herr Siissmann and the 
ball, for the young Herr could manage his 
affairs as dance-director without disturb- 
ance. He had got himself a new pair of 
trousers, and had put so much lard on his 
hair, that there was plenty to spare to 


262 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


grease his joints with. The little assessor 
went with her parents, and Fritz Triddel- 
sitz, who was aware that she was coming, 
appeared as a proprietor of the highest 
rank, connected with the nobility. The 
little pupil, whose groschens were all gone, 
and who had discovered that Brasig’s niece 
would not be there, sat just across the 
street from Gramm elin’s, before a forlorn 
old piano, which he belabored, while he 
sung : 

“ Mich fliehen alle Freuden, ich sterb vor Un- 
geduld,” 

and so forth, only he mispronounced, in 
his distress, and said : 

“ Mich freuen alle Fliegen! ” 

Rector Baldrian came, with his wife, and 
Brasig with Schultz the carpenter, and 
Slusuhr and David. David had on two 
gold rings more than usual, which had 
been given him in pawn, and chewed 
cinnamon bark, to counteract the odor of 
the produce business. 

And when they were all there, and they 
were ready to begin, David Berger played 
the “ Mamsell jas ” — as the dyer Meinswe- 
gens called the thing, — and Herr Siiss- 
mann sang out, quite loud : 

“ Allons enfant de la partie! ” 

At first, all seemed very good-natured, 
but, as a whole, there wasn’t much frater- 
nity. On one side it was all right, the 
young gentlemen among the grandees, and 
those from the country, were very broth- 
erly towards the pretty little burghers’ 
daughters ; but the young ladies from the 
country, and the grandees 1 daughters, were 
positively determined not to fraternize 
with the burghers’ sons, and the first open 
quarrel began with Malchen Pomuchels- 
kopp. The shoemaker, the wit of the 
Reformverein, who was a burgher’s son in 
Rahnstadt, asked her to dance, and she 
thanked him, but she was engaged; and 
then she sat there, and waited for Fritz 
Triddelsitz or Herr Siissmann, or some 
other helping angel, whom providence 
might send to dance the next hop waltz 
with her. But there were no angels of 
the kind ready, and she remained sitting. 
The rogue of a shoemaker cracked his 
jokes over it, and at last said, quite 
aloud, that if the distinguished ladies 
would not dance with them, they ought 
not to let the distinguished gentlemen i 
dance with their women-folks, for they had 
not come there to look at each other. 
And then the storm broke upon the poor, 
pretty, innocent, little burghers’ daughters, 


and their brothers and lovers attacked 
them: “ Fika, don’t you dance anymore 
with that long-legged apothecary’s son!” 
and “ Diirt, wait, I shall tell mother ! ” 
and •“ Stine, another dance with the ad- 
vocate, and we are parted ! ” So it went 
through the hall, and at last it came to 
Father Pomuchelskopp’s ears, how the 
trouble originated, and it disturbed him 
so much that he went to Malchen, and 
represented to her in the most pathetic 
terms the mischief she had done. The 
shoemaker, he said, was a very worthy 
young man, he was counted equal to any 
ten in the Reformverein, on account of his 
terrible wit, and it must be made up, and 
in spite of all her opposition Father Po- 
muchelskopp took his educated daughter 
upon his arm, and led her through the 
hall to the shoemaker, and said it was a 
great mistake, his daughter would consid- 
er it a special honor to dance with such a 
distinguished member of the Reformverein. 
And, behold ! the shoemaker and Malchen 
were dancing together ! 

Father Pomuchel had now, so to speak, 
sacrificed his first born upon the altar of 
fraternity, but it did not avail much, the 
discordant elements would not harmonize. 
Uncle Brasig was doing his utmost, on the 
other side, he puffed about in his brown 
dress-coat, introduced Herr von So and So 
to the wife of Thiel the joiner, and com- 
pelled himself to walk arm-in-arm, about 
the hall, with his worst enemy in the 
Reformverein, the tailor Wimmersdorf, 
and at last, before everybody, gave the 
wife of Johann Meinswegens, the dyer, a 
couple of fraternity kisses on her red 
face ; but it was a hopeless task, what 
could one man accomplish, though with 
the best will in the world ? “ Herr 

Schultz,” he said, at last, quite worn out 
with his labors, “when it comes to the 
eating and drinking, I hope we may be a 
little more brotherly; the dancing only 
seems to bring us farther apart.” 

But even the eating and drinking did not 
help the matter ; the people of rank sat at 
one end of the table, the burghers at the 
other ; at one end they drank champagne, 
at the other a frightful tipple, which 
Gramraelin sold, with the greatest impu- 
dence, as fine red wine, at twelve shillings 
the bottle. The shoemaker, indeed, was 
invited by Romuchelskopp to be his guest 
at table, he sat by Malchen, and Father 
I Pomuchel filled his glass assiduously ; the 
dyer, Meinswegens, had sat down with 
his wife between two proprietors, and or- 
dered “ Panschamber,” for he had filled 
his pocket with four-groschen pieces ; but 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


when he went to pay he became aware 
that he had made a mistake, in the twi- 
light, for he brought out a handful of 
dyer’s tickets. Brasig had seated himself 
between a couple of the dearest little 
burghers’ daughters, whom he treated in 
such a fatherly way that the Frau Pas- 
torin, if she had seen it, would not have 
given him a good word for a week, and 
Gottlieb would certainly have preached 
him a sermon; but what good did it all 
do ? Grammelin’s sour wine did not suit 
well with his champagne, and so at sup- 
per they were farther asunder than ever. 

“ Herr Schultz,” said Br'asig to his old 
friend, who sat opposite, “ now it is time 
to play our last trump, you speak to Herr 
Siissmann, I will tell David Berger.” 

Herr Schultz went round to Herr Siiss- 
mann. “ Have you your song-books 
ready ? ” 

“ Oh, yes.” 

“ Go ahead, then ! Now is the time ! ” 

Herr Siissmann distributed the song- 
books, while Br'asig went up to David 
Berger, and inquired : 

“ Herr Berger, do yon know that air of 
Schiller's : 

* * * Schwester mit das Leinwand mieder, 
Bruder in das Ordensband? ’ ” 

“ Yes, indeed,” said David. 

“Well, go ahead, then 1 Begin!” And 
suddenly resounded through the hall : 

“ Freude, schoner Gutter funken,” 

but fewer and fewer voices joined the 
chorus, weaker and weaker grew the song, 
till, at last, old Uncle Brasig stood there, 
with the book before his nose, and the 
tears running down his oheeks, and sung : 

“ Seid umschlungen Millionen, 
Untergang der Lugenbrut! ” 

That was too strong, they couldn’t stand 
that. “ Lying brood ! ” No, that was too 
much ; they all lied, to be sure, but only 
when it was necessary. The company rose 
from table, very much out of humor. 
Brasig sat down in a corner and began to 
grumble, he was vexed to his inmost 
heart ; the young people began to dance 
again, and David and Slusuhr sat in an 
adjoining room, drinking champagne, and 
cracking their jokes over Uncle Brasig. 

“Herr Inspector,” said the carpenter 
Schultz to Brasig, after a while, “ there are 
some people sitting in No. 3, and the 
notary and David are poking fun at you, 
because you bring your politics into every- 
thing, and the notary said, if the French 
should get no king after Louis Philippe, 


263 

then you might become King of France ; 
you had nothing to do, and might like the 
situation.” 

“ Did he say that ? ” asked Uncle Bra- 
sig, rising from the corner, with great en- 
ergy. 

“ Yes, he said that, and the others 
laughed at it.” 

“And he is sitting in Grammelin’s No. 
3?” 

“Yes, he is sitting there.” 

“ Come with me, Herr Schultz.” 

Brasig was angry, as I have said, he 
was exceedingly angry ; the fine fraternity 
fete , from which ha had hoped so much 
for mankind, was hopelessly ruined; he 
felt like the patriarch Abraham, when he 
offered up his darling child, he would have 
nothing more to do with it, he would go 
home ; then providence sent him this 
scapegoat, upon whom he could express 
his anger, and so much the better, since 
he was the friend and tool of Pomuchels- 
kopp. 

“ Come along, Herr Schultz,” said he, 
crossing the hall with great strides to the 
dressing room, where he had left his hat 
and buckthorn walking-stick. The hat he 
left there, but the stick he took with him 
to No. 3. 

There were many guests sitting here, 
over their bottles, and laughing at the 
jokes of the Herr Notary. All at once a 
great silence fell upon the merry com- 
pany, as they saw a face among them 
which frightened them out of their laugh- 
ter. That was Br'asig’s, which looked, in 
a very singular way, first at his buckthorn 
stick, and then at the notary, so that the 
company, with a suspicion of what might 
possibly happen, hastened to withdraw 
from the table. 

“ What rascal wanted to make me King 
of France?” cried Brasig, in such a 
voice that the plastering fell from the 
ceiling, and his stick seemed like a live 
thing in his hand: “I will not be made 
King of France ! ” — whack ! came the buck- 
thorn, between the notary’s shoulder- 
blades. “ Oh Lord ! ” — “I will not be 
made King of France!” and a second 
time the buckthorn did its work, and 
Uncle Br'asig and his stick alternated 
in the assurance that they had no am- 
bition for the French crown. Candle- 
sticks, lamps and bottles entered actively 
into the battle-royal, and David got under 
the table, that is to say, he crept there 
for refuge. The notary shrieked for help, 
but no one stood by him ; only when the 
1 affair was over, David plucked up cour- 
1 age, under the table, to inquire : “ Beg- 


264 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


ging your pardon, Herr Inspector, is this 
what you call fraternity ? ” 

“ Yes ! ” cried Brasig, “ you miserable 
scamp ! Between a man and a dog, 
blows are the best fraternity.” 

“ Out! out!” said Ilerr Schultz and he 
grappled David, under the table, and 
dragged him to light. 

“ Gentlemen,” cried Slusuhr, “ you are 
witnesses how I have been treated, I shall 
enter a complaint.” 

“ I have seen nothing,” said one. 

“I know nothing about it,” said an- 
other. 

“I was looking out of the window,” 
said a third, although it was pitch dark. 

“Herr Schultz,” said Brasig, “you are 
my witness that I have treated the Herr 
Notary Slusuhr with the greatest forbear- 
ance,” and with that, he left the room, 
got his hat, and went home. 

The blows which Slusuhr had received 
in No. 3 had echoed by this time through 
the hall, and in no way tended to harmo- 
nize the existing discords. The two Herrs 
von So and So with their sons had taken 
leave long before, and some of the gran- 
dees had also quietly retreated. The lit- 
tle assessor had her hat on, and her cloak 
wrapped around her, though Fritz Trid- 
delsitz was almost on his knees before her, 
"begging for one more, just one more little 
Schottische. 

Pomuchelskopp also prepared for de- 
parture ; he had an indefinite, but just, 
premonition that something was going to 
happen to him that evening, so he went to 
his family and told them it was time they 
were starting for home. His family af- 
forded a sad picture of the whole enter- 
tainment, for they were quite divided. 
Gustaving was still hopping about, con- 
tentedly, with tailor Wimmersdorf s young- 
est daughter, Salchen was standing a lit- 
tle aside with Herr Sussmann, listening 
attentively while he related how merely 
by way of joke he had taken the stupid 
situation at Kurz’s shop, but he should re- 
main there no longer than till he could de- 
cide which of the places to accept, which 
were offered to him in Hamburg, Liibeck 
or Stettin, or possibly he might conclude 
to establish himself in Rostock, for he had 
a rich uncle there, who was constantly 
urging him to get married and come and 
live with him. Malchen sat in a sofa-cor- 
ner, crying with vexation over her shoe- 
maker. Kliicking, our brave old Hauning, 
sat there stiff as a stake ; however agita- 
ted by the events of the evening she may 
have been, she gave no sign, she remained 
steadfast, even the shoemaker had not 


moved her out of her composure, and when 
Muchel proposed that they should go she 
merely said, in a very friendly way, “ Po- 
king, will you not invite your friend, . the 
shoemaker, to ride with us? You might 
also invite one of your noble acquaintances. 
And then, if you ask weaver Ruhrdanz, 
and Willgans, and your other brothers of 
the Reformverein, the company will be 
complete.” 

And with this matrimonial sting in his 
great fraternal heart, our friend set off on 
his homeward journey. 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

One should never be confident before- 
hand how a matter will turn out ; espe- 
ially, one should never make free with the 
devil, for he is apt to come when he is 
called, and often appears uninvited. The 
guests whom Hauning advised Pomuchels- 
kopp to invite, were standing before the 
gate of Gurlitz waiting for their host and 
hostess. All the villagers and Pomuchels- 
kopp’s day-laborers stood there together, 
as the summer morning began to dawn, 
before the court-yard gate, to give their 
master a reception. 

“ Children,” said Ruhrdanz, “ what must 
be, must, but do everything with regular- 
ity ! ” 

“ Out with your regularity ! ” cried Will- 
gans. “ Has he treated us with regular- 
ity ? ” 

“ No matter,” said Ruhrdanz, “ we can- 
not get our rights out of hand. That is 
where you are mistaken. When we go to 
the grand-duke about it afterwards, and 
that is no more than proper, and he asks, 

‘ Willgans, what did you do ? ’ and you 
tell him, ‘ Why, Herr, we first gave the old 
man and his wife a good beating, and then 
we took them over the boundary,’ how 
will that sound ? What will the man say 
to that ? ” 

“ Yes,” said old Brinkmann, “ Ruhrdanz 
is right ? If we take him over the bound- 
ary then we are rid of him, and there is 
no need of our doing anything more.” 

This was finally resolved upon. Behind 
the men stood the women and children, 
and the great, strong woman of yesterday 
morning was there also, and she said, 

“ Now we have things, so far, as we want 
them. If you don’t do it though, and get 
rid of the fellow and his wife, I will beat 
my man till he cries for mercy.” 

“ Yes, gossip,” said another woman, “ we 
must, we must! I went to the pastor’s 
yesterday, — well, the Frau Pastorin gave 
me something, and he preached patience. 
What ? Patience ? Has hunger patience ? ” 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


“Johann Schmidt,” said a tall, slender 
girl, “just run up the hill, and see if they 
are coming. Fika, how will our two 
mamsells look, when they are sent pack- 
ing ? ” 

“ Shall we tell the pastor about the 
matter ? ” inquired the day-laborer Zorndt 
of Brinkmann. “ It might be well that he 
should know about it.” 

“I don’t think there is any use in it, 
Zorndt, he knows nothing about business. 
If the old pastor were only alive ! ” 

‘yThey are coming 1 ” cried Johann 
Schmidt, running back. 

“ Come, who is to speak ? ” said Will- 
gans, “ I will hold the horses.” 

“ Eh, Ruhrdanz,” went from mouth to 
mouth. 

“ Well, if you are contented, why should 
not I speak?” said Ruhrdanz. Then all 
was quiet. 

The coachman, Johann Jochen, drove 
up, and was going to turn in at the gate ; 
then Willgans seized the two leaders by 
the heads, and turned them aside a little, 
saying, “Johann Jochen, stop here fora 
moment.” 

Pomuchelskopp looked out of the car- 
riage, and saw the whole village assem- 
bled : “ What does this mean ? ” 

Ruhrdanz, and the rest of the company, 
stood at the door of the carriage, and he 
said, “ Herr, we have made up our minds 
that we will not consider you our master 
any longer, for you have not treated us as 
a master ought, and no more have you 
other people before us, for you wear a 
ring around your neck, and we cannot suf- 
fer a master with a ring around his neck.” 

“You robbers 1 You rascals!” cried 
Pomuchelskopp, as he became aware of the 
meaning of this performance. “ What do 
you want ? Will you lay hands on me and 
mine ? ” 

“ No, we will not do that,” said old 
Brinkmann, “ we will only take you over 
the boundary.” 

“ Johann Jochen ! ” cried Pomuchels- 
kopp, “ drive on 1 Cut them with your 
whip ! ” 

“Johann Jochen,” said Willgans, “so 
sure as you touch the whip, I will knock 
you off the horse. Turn about ! So ! to 
the right ! ” and carriage and horses were 
headed towards Rahnstadt. Salchen and 
Malchen were screeching at the top of 
their voices, Gustaving had sprung down 
from the box, and placed himself between 
his father and the laborers, to keep them 
off; all was in confusion, only our brave 
old Hauning sat stiff and stark, and said 
not a word. 


265 

“ What do you want of me ? You 
pack of robbers ! ” exclaimed Pomuchels- 
kopp. 

“ We are not that,” cried Schmidt, “ we 
would not take a pin-head from you, and 
Gustaving can stay here and manage, and 
tell us what to do.” 

“ But the wife, and the two girls, we 
cannot stand any longer,” said Kapphingst, 
“ they must go too.” 

“ Hush, children ! ” said Ruhrdanz, 
“everything with regularity. Merely to 
take them over the boundary amounts to 
nothing; we must give them up to our 
magistrate, the Rahnstadt burgomeister. 
That is the right thing to do.” 

“Ruhrdanz is right,” said the others, 
“ and Gustaving, you go quietly home, no- 
body will hurt you. And you, Johann 
Jochen, just drive at a steady pace,” and 
they placed themselves, some on one side, 
some on the other, and the procession 
started, at a regular parade step. Po- 
muchelskopp had resigned himself, but he 
was not resigned to his destiny ; he sat 
wringing his hands and lamenting to him- 
self : “ Oh, Lord ! Oh, Lord ! what will 
become of me? what will they do?” 
and then, putting his head out of the door, 
“ Good people, I have always been a kind 
master to you.” • 

“ You have been a regular skinner ! ” 
cried a voice from the crowd. 

Salchen and Malchen wept, Hauning sat 
there, stiff as a thermometer tube, but if 
the day-laborers had understood that sort 
of thermometer, they would have seen 
that the mercury was far above boiling 
point, and Willgans, who was close by the 
door, would have been more careful, for 
suddenly, without saying a word, she 
made a grab at him, and got fast hold of 
his curly, chestnut hair, and pulled it to 
her heart’s content, and her eyes gleamed 
and sparkled out of the dusky carriage, 
as if she had been transformed into 
an owl, and had taken him for a young 
hare. 

“ Thunder and lightning ! Look at the 
carrion 1 ” cried Willgans. “ Strike at her, 
Diising ! See the devil ! Strike her on the 
knuckles ! ye, ya ! ye, ya ! ” 

Before Diising could rescue him, Hau- 
ning banged his nose, a couple of times, 
against the door-handle, and the blood ran 
in streams. 

“ Thunder and lightning ! I say ! Such 
deviltry is not to be put up with ! Hold 
on, I will ” 

“ Hold 1 ” cried Ruhrdanz, “ you must 
not blame her for that, it is only her nat- 
ural wickedness; you must let it go for 


266 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


this time ; but you can tell the grand-duke 
about it, and show him your nose, if you 
like, that he may see how they have treated 
you .” 

Hauning said nothing, and the proces- 
sion moved on ; at the boundary the la- 
borers sent home their wives and children, 
who had followed so far, behind the car- 
riage, and about seven o’clock they 
marched, slowly and solemnly, into Rahn- 
stadt. 

Uncle Brasig lay by the window, smok- 
ing his pipe, and thinking over his heroic 
deeds of the previous evening. Kurz, al- 
though he had not attended the fraternity 
ball, was fearfully cross, and went scold- 
ing about his shop : “ The stupid dunce ! 
the harlequin 1 Only wait ! Only come 
home ! ” and, although he intended to be 
in such different circumstances afterwards, 
he must at length come home, that is to 
say, Ilerr Siissmann. Herr Siissmann 
danced over the threshold. Kurz braced 
his two hands against the counter, and 
looked at him, as if he would spring over 
the counter in his wrath, and meet Herr 
Siissmann in the hall ; he let him, how- 
ever, come into the shop first. 

“ Morning, principal, principalchen, prin- 
cipalchen ! ” cried Herr Siissmann, stag- 
gering about the shop, and finally seating 
himself on the rim of a herring cask, with 
his hat cocked on one side : “ Morning, 
Kurzchen, Schurzchen, Wurzchen — ; — ” 
but he had not time to finish his varia- 
tions, Kurz had his hands in his hair, 
knocked off his hat into the herring-cask, 
and began dragging him about the shop 
by his ambrosial locks. Herr Siissmann 
groped blindly about him for something 
to lay hold of, and caught at the stop-cock 
of the oil-cask ; the cock came out, and the 
oil poured out in a stream. 

“ Good heavens 1 ” cried Kurz, “ my oil ! 
my oil ! ” and he let go of Herr Siissmann, 
and stuck his right fore-finger into the 
hole. Herr Siissmann held up the cock 
in triumph, and, as it often happens that 
crazy or intoxicated people do uncommon- 
ly clever things, the bright idea occurred 
to Herr Siissmann that he would do his 
work thoroughly. So he pulled out the 
cock from the vinegar barrel. 

“ Oh, good gracious ! my vinegar ! ” 
cried Kurz, and he stuck his left fore-fin- 
ger into the vinegar barrel. And as he 
was now fairly caught, and stooping over, 
the opportunity was too tempting for Herr 
Siissmann to neglect. “ Principalchen ! 
Kurzchen ! ” — whack I “ Leben sie wohl, 
Tuten dreherchen 1 ” — whack, whack ! 
“ Johannageht, und nimmer kehrt sie wie- 


der ! ” — whack, whack, whack ! Then he 
fished his hat out of the herring-cask, put 
it on, as much askew as possible, laid the 
two cocks on the counter, about twenty 
feet from Kurz, and danced, laughing, out 
of the door. 

“ Help ! ” screamed Kurz, “ help ! 
he-l-p 1 ” But his people were not in the 
house, and his good old advocate was in 
the back garden, cutting asparagus, and 
the only one who heard him was Uncle 
Brasig. “Karl,” said he, “it seems to 
me, as if Kurz were yelling. I will go 
over, and see if anything has hap- 
pened.” 

“ He-l-p ! ” cried Kurz. 

“ Preserve us ! ” said Brasig, “ what an 
uproar you are making here, at seven 
o’clock in the morning 1 ” 

“ Infamous rascal 1 ” 

“ How ? Is that the way you greet 
me?” 

“ Good-for-nothing scamp 1 ” 

“ You are a rude fellow ! ” 

“ Give me those cocks, that lie on the 
counter 1 ” 

“ Get your dirty cocks yourself, you 
donkey, you ! ” 

“ I cannot, the oil and the vinegar will 
run out, and I don’t mean you, I mean 
Siissmann.” 

“ That is another thing,” said Brasig, 
perching himself on the counter, and 
swinging his legs, “what is the matter 
with you ? ” 

Kurz related how he had got into this 
situation. 

“ You strike' me very comically, Kurz, 
but let this be a warning to you ; a man 
is always punished in the members in 
which he has sinned.” 

“ I beg you — ” 

“ Quiet, Kurz 1 You have always sinned 
in oil and vinegar, since you have emptied 
the quart measure with a jerk, so that 
often two or three spoonfuls would be left 
in it. Will you always give right measure 
hereafter? Will you never look at the 
cards again, when we are playing Boston ? ” 

“ Good heavens ! yes, yes ! ” 

“Well, then, I will release you,” and 
with that he brought the cocks. 

Hardly was Kurz free when he darted 
out of the door, as if he expected to find 
Herr Siissmann waiting for him outside. 
Brasig followed, and they came out just 
as Pomuchelskopp and his escort were 
passing. 

“ Preserve us ! What is this ? Ruhr- 
danz, what does this mean? ” 

“Don’t take it ill, Herr Inspector, we 
have turned out our Herr.” 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


267 


Briisig shook his head : “ You have done 
a very foolish thing ! ” and he fell into the 
procession, and many people who were in 
the street followed to the burgomeister’s 
house. Here the laborers took out the 
horses, and Ruhrdanz and Willgans and 
Brinkmann, and several others went in to 
see the burgomeister. 

“Well, Herr,” said Ruhrdanz, “we have 
got him here.” 

“ Whom ? ” 

“ Eh, our Herr Pomuchelskopp.” 

“ What ? What is that V ” 

“ Oh, nothing, only that we won’t have 
him for our Herr any longer.” 

“ Good heavens, people, what have you 
done.” 

“ Nothing but what is right, Herr Bur- 
gomeister.” 

“ Have you laid hands on your mas- 
ter ? ” 

“Not a finger ; but the old woman 
there, she laid hands on Willgans, for 
she ” 

But the burgomeister had gone out of 
the room, and stood by the carriage, and 
begged the company to get out ; they did 
so, and he brought the family into his liv- 
ing room. 

“ Oh, what will become of us ! what 
will become of us ! ” moaned Pomuchel. 
“ Herr Burgomeister, you know, I have 
always been a good master to my peo- 
ple.” 

“ Kopp, for shame 1 ” interposed Han- 
ning. 

“ No,” said the burgomeister, paying no 
attention to Hauning, and looking the 
Herr Proprietor firmly in the eye, “you 
have not been a good master. You know 
I have often remonstrated with you, on 
this account, and you know that, because 
of your behavior to your people, I have 
declined to act as your magistrate. I have 
nothing to do with the business, and if I 
were to concern myself in it, merely as a 
private citizen, I should not take your side, 
but that of your poor, oppressed people. 
You must excuse me, therefore ” 

“But you can at least give me your ad- 
vice,” begged Pomuchelskopp. “ What 
shall I do V” 

“ You cannot go back to Gurlitz, at least 
not at present, it might give occasion for 
violent deeds ; you must wait the result, 
here. But wait a moment; I will speak 
to the people again.” 

Well, what good could that do? The 
people were firmly resolved in the matter ; 
the bad fellows among them had yielded 
to the decision of the older, more peace- ( 
able laborers and villagers, and now they 


were all so fully persuaded that they were 
in the right, that they were not to be 
moved from their purpose. 

“ No, Herr,” said Ruhrdanz, “ we will 
never take him back ; that is settled.” 

“ You are guilty of a great offence, and 
it may go hard with you.” 

“ Yes, that may be ; but if you talk of 
offences, Herr Pomuchelskopp has been 
guilty of worse offences against us.” 

“ Those foolish people at the Reform- 
verein, have filled your heads with their 
silly ideas.” 

“ Don’t take it ill, Herr Burgomeister ; 
that is what everybody says, but it isn’t 
true. What ? Our Herr Pomuchelskopp 
belongs to the Reformverein, and has made 
a speech there ; but, Herr, he -told nothing 
but lies, and we know better.” 

“ Well, what do you intend to do ? ” 

“ Herr Gustaving is there, and when he 
tells us to do this or that, we shall do it ; 
but Willgans and I will go to the grand- 
duke, and give him an account of the 
matter, and that is what I wanted to ask 
you, if you would give us some papers to 
take with us.” 

“ What do you want with papers ? ” 

“ Well, Herr Burgomeister, don’t take it 
ill, there is no harm in it. You see, I went 
to the old railroad, without any papers, 
and they turned me out, of course ; but 
the grand-duke is no railroad, and he 
would not act so inconsiderately, and if 
we have no papers to show you can show 
your nose, Willgans, how the old woman 
has treated you, and I will show my honest 
hands, which have never been in any unjust 
business.” 

Upon that, the old man went out, and 
the laborers crowded around him, and felt 
in their pockets, and produced the few 
shillings and groschens they had by them : 
“ There, now go 1 The shortest road to 
Schwerin ! ” and “ Neighbor, don’t forget 
Kapphingst’s girl ! ” and “ Neighbor, if he 
asks what we have lived on, you may say 
honestly we have stolen nothing from our 
master ; but we have helped ourselves to 
a few of Frau Niissler’s potatoes, because 
she never minded it.” 

The two set out for Schwerin, the other 
day-laborers went home; Johann Jochen 
drove the empty carriage behind them ; 
the people, who had assembled in quite a 
crowd before the burgomeister’s door, — 
for the business had spread through the 
town like wildfire, — dispersed to their 
homes, and Uncle Br'asig said to Haber- 
mann, “ Karl, he is getting his deserts. 

I went in a moment, not on his account, 
but for those poor fellows, the laborers; 


268 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


but when he came in, I went away, for I 
didn’t want to see him in his disgrace.” 

Pomuchelskopp had gone to Gram- 
melin’s, with his dear family, and he sat 
now, in misery and distress, by the bed- 
side of the Herr Notary; for Slusuhr had 
gone directly to bed, after his beating, in 
order that the business might appear to 
be very serious. 

“I have sent for the doctor, and shall 
have myself examined, so that I can catch 
the inspector nicely. Strump is not at 
home, but the other one will be here di- 
rectly.” 

“ Ah, how fortunate you are ! ” said Po- 
muchel. 

“ I should not have supposed,” said the 
Herr Notary, turning on his other side, 
“that it was a particular piece of good 
fortune to get a jacket full of blows 
from a buckthorn staff, as thick as your 
thumb.” 

“You can avenge yourself, but I, — poor 
man that I am, — what can I do ? ” 

“ You can get a detachment of soldiers, 
and then you can punish the rascals, with- 
in an inch of their lives, and if you are too 
much of a milksop to do it yourself, em- 
ploy your wife, she will do it finely.” 

“ God bless you ! no ! no ! I have enough 
on my hands ! I can do nothing about 
Pumpelhagen yet, and I dare not go back 
to Gurlitz, they will tear my house down 
over my head. No, no ! I shall sell, I shall 
sell ! ” 

“ Shall I tell you some news ? ” said 
David, who came into the room, in time to 
hear the last words, “you are right, sell; 
I will look out for you, I know ” 

“ Infamous Jew rascal 1 ” said Slusuhr, 
shifting his position again, — “awl thun- 
der I — do you think we cannot manage 
that for ourselves ? Yes, Herr Pomuchels- 
kopp, I would sell, for if they don’t tear 
your house down they might get at the 
barns, and the potato middens.” 

“ Well, Herr Notary, what will you 
do ? ” asked David. “ You have some 
money ; you might manage a farm-house, 
or a mill, but for an estate like that? 
You must come to my father.” 

“Your father? When he hears that it 
is for Pomuchelskopp, he will say : ‘ Cash 
down ! ’ We three are not in very high 
credit with him.” 

“If I tell him ” began David, but 

just then the doctor came in, the father 
of the little assessor. 

“ Good morning 1 You sent for me ? ” 
turning to Slusuhr, “you wanted to see 
me ? ” 

“ Ah, Herr Doctor, you were at the ball 


last night. Oh, my bruises ! You must 
surely have heard — - ” 

“ He got a beating,” said David, “ I am 
a witness he was dreadfully abused.” 

“ Will you hold your cursed tongue ? ” 
cried Slusuhr. “ Herr Doctor, I wish you 
would examine me medically ; I fear I 
shall never recover the use of my limbs.” 

Without more words, the doctor went 
up to the patient, and removed the shirt 
from his shoulders, and there was much to 
be read there which is not usually seen 
on a pair of shoulders, and the inscription 
was written in red ink, in the largest 
capitals. Pomuchelskopp sat there, with 
folded hands, in the deepest melancholy, 
but when he saw the inscription on the 
notary’s back, a very comfortable expres- 
sion dawned in his face, and David sprung 
up, exclaiming, “ Good heavens ! How 
he looks ! Herr Doctor, I will let you ex- 
amine me too ; carpenter Schultz dragged 
me out from under the table, and tore my 
new dress-coat.” 

“ jSend f or the tailor ! ” said the doctor 
quietly, and turning to the notary : “ I 
will leave a certificate for you, with Gram- 
melin. Good morning, gentlemen ! ” 

Then he went down-stairs, and after 
a little while, Grammelin’s waiting-maid 
brought up the paper, which the doctor 
had left for the Herr Notary. Slusuhr 
opened it, and read : 

“ As in duty bound, I hereby testify that the 
Herr Notary Slusuhr has received a good, sound 
flogging, as is clearly evident from the suggilla- 
tions upon his back. It has done him no harm, 
however. So and So, Dr. Med.” 

“ Has the fellow the insolence to say 
that ? ” screamed Slusuhr. “ It has done 
him no harm ? Well, just wait, we will 
talk about that, by and by.” 

“ Good heavens ! ” cried David, “ isn’t it 
better that it has done you no harm, than 
if had hurt you ? ” 

“ You are an idiot ! But what am I 
lying here for ? ” said Slusuhr. “ You will 
excuse me, I must go out, I must thank 
the Herr Inspector for his flogging — with 
a little writ.” 

“ Don’t forget me, my dear friend,” said 
Pomuchel. “You must write for me to 
Pumpelhagen to-day.” 

“ Rely upon me. I feel spiteful enough, 
to-day, to get out writs against the whole 
world. Haven’t you something to write, 
David?” 

“If I have anything to write, I can 
write it, if I have nothing to write, I shall 
write nothing,” said David, and he went 
out with Pomuchelskopp. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


CHAPTER XLIY. 

Gloomy, heavy, leaden hours oppressed 
the young Frau von Rainbow, after Pomu- 
chelskopp’s visit ; slowly, step by step, 
they passed over her, and in their foot- 
prints new cares and anxieties sprang up ; 
with firm, energetic hands, she pulled up 
these weeds from her path ; but in time 
the most active hand grows weary, and 
the strongest heart longs for rest. 

Her husband had not returned on the 
day appointed ; instead there had come a 
messenger, with a letter, bearing Slusuhr’s 
seal, who said he had orders to wait, until 
he could give the letter into the hands of 
the Herr von Rainbow himself. What 
that signified, she could easily understand. 
She sat, in the twilight, in her room, by 
her child ; her hands were folded in her lap, 
and she looked out, in the hazy summer 
evening, at the dark clouds gathering over 
the sky. 

The day had been sultry, and in such 
weather, the blood flows heavily through 
the veins, not leaping and throbbing, like 
a living spring of clear water, but drag- 
ging sleepily along, like the black water in 
a ditch, and even as Nature sighs and 
pants for the storm, which shall give her 
fresh life, so the heart longs and sighs, in 
impatience, for the whirlwind and thunder- 
bolt of destiny, which may save it from 
such wearing torture, — come what may, 
deliver us from this fearful suspense. This 
was Frida’s mood, so she longed and sighed 
for a sturdy thunder-bolt which might 
drive away the foul air in which she was 
stifling, and make everything clear around 
her ; and she did not sigh in vain. 

Korlin Kegel came in, bringing the post- 
bag, and stood there as if she wanted to 
do something, then unlocked the bag, and 
laid a letter on the table before her mis- 
tress, and again stood still. 

“ Gracious Frau, shall I light the 
lamps ? ” 

“ No, let them be.” 

Korlin did not go, she remained stand- 
ing : 

“ Gracious Frau, you have forbidden us 
to come telling tales, but ” 

“What is it?” asked Frida, rousing 
herself from her thoughts. 

“Ah. gracious Frau, the Gurlitz people 
have driven away Herr Pomuchelskopp, 
and his wife and his two daughters.” 

“ Have they done that ? ” cried Frida. 

“ Yes, and now all our day-laborers are 
standing outside, and want to speak to 
you.” 

“Are they going to drive us away?” 


2G9 

asked Frida, rising, very quietly and 
proudly, from her chair. 

“No, no! dear, gracious Frau,” cried 
Korlin, throwing herself on the floor, and 
grasping her about the knees, while the 
tears started from her eyes, “ no, no ! 
There is no talk of that, and my old father 
says, if any one should propose such a 
thing, he would beat out his brains with a 
shovel. They only say there is no use in 
speaking to the Herr, he breaks up their 
talk too shortly. They want to speak to 
you, because they have confidence in 
you.” 

“ Where is Triddelsitz ? ” 

“ Dear heart ! he is going round among 
them, but they won’t listen to him, they 
say they have nothing to do with him, they 
want to speak to the gracious Frau.” 

“ Come ! ” said Frida, and went down. 

“ What do you want, good people ? ” 
asked the young Frau, as she stepped out- 
side the door, before which the laborers 
were assembled. The wheelwright, Fritz 
Flegel, stepped up, and said : 

“ Gracious Frau, we have only come to 
you because ’we are all agreed, — and we 
told the Hert so before ; but nothing came 
of it. And the Herr answered us harshly, 
and we have no real confidence in Herr 
Triddelsitz, for he is so thoughtless, and 
doesn’t know yet how things should be 
managed, and we thought you might help 
us, if you would be so kind. We are not 
dissatisfied because we want more, we are 
contented with what we get, and we get 
what belongs to us, — but never at the 
right time ; and poor people like us can- 
not stand that.” 

“ Yes,” interrupted Pasel, “ and last 
year, the famine year, the rye was all sold, 
and you see, gracious Frau, some of us 
get our pay in grain ; and I was to have 
twelve bushels of rye, and live on it, and I 
got none, and they said we must be 
patient. Oh, patience ! And all the pota- 
toes bad ! How can we live ? ” 

“ Gracious Frau,” said an old white- 
haired man, “ I will say nothing about the 
means of life, for we have never gone 
hungry ; but for an old man like me to 
stand, all day long, bent over in the ditch, 
shoveling water, — and at evening I am 
too stiff to move, and cannot sleep at night 
for misery, — it isn’t right. We didn’t have 
such doings when Herr Habermann was 
here ; but now it is all commanding and 
commanding, and the commanders know 
nothing about the work.” 

“Yes, gracious Frau,” said the wheel- 
wright, stepping forward again, “ and so 
we wanted to ask you if we couldn’t have 


270 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


a regular inspector again, if Herr Haber- 
mann will not come, then some other ; but 
one that would treat us kindly, and listen 
when we have something to say, and not 
snap us up, and scold us when we haven’t 
deserved it, or knock our children about 
with sticks, as Herr Triddelsitz used 


to. 


99 


“ That shall be put a stop to,” cried 
Frida. 

“ Yes, gracious Frau, he has broken off 
that habit ; about six months ago I had a 
very serious talk with him about it, and 
since then he is much better behaved, and 
more considerate. And if our gracious 
Iierr would be considerate too, and think 
of his own profit, he would get a capable 
inspector, for he himself understands noth- 
ing about farming, and then he need not 
have a whole field of wheat beaten down 
by the wind, as it was last year, and the 
people would not talk about him so. And, 
gracious Frau, people talk a great deal, 
and they say the Herr must sell the estate, 
and will sell it to the Herr Pomuchels- 
kopp ; but we will never take him for our 
master.” 

“No ! ” cried one and another, “ we will 
never take him.” “ A fellow who has been 
driven off by his own laborers!” “We 
can’t put up with him ! ” 

Blow after blow fell the words of the 
day-laborers upon Frida’s heart. The lit- 
tle love and respect which they professed 
for her husband, the knowledge of their 
embarrassed situation, which was evident 
even to the common people, weighed 
heavily upon her, and it was with extreme 
difficulty that she controlled herself, and 
said : 

“ Be quiet, good people ! The Herr 
must decide all these matters, when he 
comes home. Go quietly home, now, and 
don’t come up* to the house again in such 
a crowd. I will join in your petition to 
the Herr, and I think I may safely promise 
you that there will be a change in the 
management by St.John’s day, — in one 
way or another,” she added with a sigh, 
and paused a moment, as if to reflect, or 
perhaps to swallow something that rose in 
her throat. “Yes, wait until St.John’s 
Day, then there will be a change.” 

“ That is all right then.” 

“ That is good, so far.” 

“ And we are very much obliged to 
you.” 

“ Well, good-night, gracious Frau ! ” 

So they went off. 

Frida returned to her room. It was be- 
ginning to thunder and lighten, the wind 
blew in gusts over the court-yard, driving 


sand and straw against the window-panes. 
“ Yes,” she said, to herself, “ it must be 
decided by St. John’s Day, I have not 
promised too much, there must be a 
change of some kind. What will it be ? ” 
and before her eyes rose the dreary picture 
which David had so coarsely drawn ; she 
saw herself condemned to live in a rented 
house in a small town, with her husband 
and child, with no occupation, and no 
brighter prospects for the future. She 
heard the neighborhood gossip ; they had 
seen better days. She saw her husband 
rising in the morning, going into the 
town, coming home to dinner, smoking on 
the sofa in the afternoon, going out again, 
and going to bed at night. And so on, 
day after day, with nothing in the world 
to do. She saw herself burdened with 
household cares, comfortless, friendless ; 
she saw herself upon her death-bed, and 
her child standing beside her. Her child ; 
from henceforth a poor, forsaken child ! A 
poor, noble young lady ! It is a hard thing 
to occupy a station in which one must keep 
up appearances, without the requisite 
means. A poor young gentleman may 
fight it through, he can become a soldier ; 
but a poor young lady ? And though the 
Lord should look down from heaven, and 
endow her with all the loveliness of an 
angel, and her parents should do for her 
all of which human love is capable, 
the world would pass her by, and the 
young Herrs would say, “ She is poor,” 
and the burghers, “ She is proud.” So 
Frida saw her child, who lay meanwhile in 
peaceful child-sleep, undisturbed by the 
storm and tempest without, or by the 
storm and tempest in her mother’s breast. 

Korlin Kegel brought a light, and the 
young Frau reached after the letter which 
lay upon the table, as a person will do, 
when he wishes to prevent another from 
noticing that he is deeply moved. She 
looked at the address, it was to herself, 
from her sister-in-law, Albertine ; she tore 
open the envelope, and another letter fell 
into her hand, addressed to her husband. 

“ Put this letter on your master’s writ- 
ing-table,” she said to the girl. Korlin 
went. 

Her husband’s sisters had often written 
to her, and their letters were generally 
such as ladies write to drive away ennui. 
Frida opened the letter; but ah! this 
was ho letter born of ennui. Albertine 
wrote : — 

“ Dear Sister: 

“ I do not know that I am doing right. Ber- 
tha advises me to it, and Fidelia has twice taken 
away the paper from under my pen, she thinks 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


271 


it will only worry our dear brother Axel. But — 
I don’t know, I cannot help myself, — necessity 
really compels us. We have already written 
twice to Axel, without getting an answer; he 
may be absent from home a good deal, in these 
hard times, and also very much occupied, — for 
these unhappy political troubles are beginning 
to reach us, as we have evidence enough in 
Schwerin, — and so I believe I am doing right 
in turning to you; you will give us an answer. 
You know that Axel borrowed the capital which 
our dear father left us, to invest it on the estate 
at Pumpelhagen; he promised us five percent, 
interest, instead of four and a half, which we 
got before, — it was not necessary, for we did 
well enough, — but he promised us the interest 
punctually, every quarter, and it is three quar- 
ters since he has sent us any. Dear Frida, we 
should certainly have said nothing about it, if 
we were not in the greatest embarrassment. 
Added to this, our brother-in-law Breitenburg 
has been here, who knew nothing of Axel’s 
having borrowed from us, and when he found it 
out, he spoke of Axel in the most dreadful way, 
and declared that we were three geese. He 
asked to see our security by mortgage, which 
we could not show him, because Axel has al- 
ways delayed sending it; and then he said, 
right to our faces, we should never see our 
money again ; it was notorious that Axel was 
so deeply in debt, through his bad management, 
that Pumpelhagen would be sold over his head. 
We know, to be sure, how to make allowance 
for our brother-in-law’s speeches, for he was al- 
ways unfriendly to our dear Axel, — and how 
could it be possible ? Pumpelhagen sold ? In 
our family for hundreds of years! The Grand- 
Duke would not allow it, and we told him as 
much, — Fidelia in her lively way, — then he 
took his hat and stick, and said in his coarse 
way, * Your brother Axel was always a fool, and 
now he has become a scoundrel,’ whereupon Fi- 
delia sprang up, and showed him the door. It 
was a frightful scene, and I never would have 
written you about it, if I had not a secret anx- 
iety lest Axel and Breitenberg should encounter 
each other, and, like the brothers-in-law, Dan- 
nenberg and Malzahn, out of an exaggerated 
sense of honor, shoot each other, across a pock r 
et-handkerchief. Caution Axel to avoid such a 
meeting, and, if it is possible, take care that he 
sends us our interest. 

“ We think of visiting you this summer; we 
have taken a childish pleasure in the thought 
of seeing you and the dear old place again, 
where we played as children, and dreamed as 
maidens, and — alas! — where we parted from 
our dear father. Yes, Frida, I rejoice in think- 
ing of it all, and Bertha and Fidelia with me, 
for we live ouly in recollection; the present is 
dreary and comfortless. Only now and then, 
some friend of our father’s comes in, and tells 
us what is passing in the world, and it is really 
touching for Bertha and me to see how our lit- 
tle Fidelia, with her natural vivacity, will 
throw aside her sewing and interest herself in 


everything. She is very much interested in the 
court. Now, farewell, dear Frida, pardon my 
gossip, and give the enclosed letter to Axel. I 
have written him very earnestly and trustingly; 
but have spared him, as much as possible, any- 
thing disagreeable. We shall see you in Au- 
gust. 

“ Yours, 

“Albertine von Rambow. 

“ Schwerin, June 11, 1848.” 

Frida read the letter, but she did not 
read it through ; when she came to the 
place, “Your brother Axel was always a 
fool, and now he has become a scoundrel,” 
she threw the letter on the floor, and 
wrung her hands, then sprang to her feet, 
and walked up and down the room, cry- 
ing, “ That he is ! that he is ! ” Her 
child lay sleeping before her ; she threw 
herself down in the chair, and took up the 
letter again, and read over the terrible 
words, and the dark picture she had been 
making to herself of her child’s future 
was gone like a shadow, and before her 
eyes another shone, in livid colors ; on it 
stood the three sisters, and underneath 
was written : “ Betrayed ! betrayed by a 
brother ! ” And in the back-ground stood 
her husband ; but, dimly seen, she could 
not tell what was truth and what was 
falsehood, and underneath was written : 
“ Scoundrel ! ” Horrible ! horrible ! Now 
all was lost, — doubly lost ! For it was 
not her own loss merely, it was the loss of 
of one whom she had loved, dearer than 
her own soul. That was fearful ! Oh, for 
help, to remove this glowing brand from 
the brow she had so often lovingly kissed ! 
But how ? Who could help her ? Name 
after name shot through her head, but 
these names all seemed inscribed on a dis- 
tant, inaccessible, rocky wall, where she 
could find no footing. She wrung her 
hands in distress, and the prospect grew 
darker and darker, when, all at once, there 
beamed upon her in her anguish and tor- 
ment an old, friendly, woman’s face. It 
was Frau Nussler’s face, and she looked 
just as she had when she had kissed 
Frida’s child. 

The young Frau sprang up, exclaiming, 
“ There is a heart ! there is a human 
heart ! ” It thundered and lightened, and 
the rain poured in torrents ; but the young 
Frau caught up a shawl, and rushed out 
into the storm. 

“Gracious Frau! For God’s sake!” 
cried Korlin Kegel, “ in the rain ? in the 
night?” 

“ Let me alone ! ” 

“ No, that I will not ! ” said the girl, as 
she followed her mistress. 


2 72 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


“ A human heart, a human heart,” mur- 
mured the poor young Frau to herself; 
the rain beat in her face, — onward ! on- 
ward 1 — she had the shawl in her hand, 
and never thought of it, her feet slipped in 
the muddy path, she did not know it, there 
was a voice in her ears crying ever, “ On- 
ward ! onward ! ” 

“If you must go, gracious Frau, then 
come along ! ” cried Korlin Kegel, taking 
the shawl, and wrapping it about her head 
and shoulders, and encircling her waist 
with a strong arm. “ Which way ? ” 

“Frau Niissler,” said the young Frau, 
and murmured again, “ a human heart ! ” 
And a human heart was beating close be- 
side her, and she never thought of it ; 
nothing keeps hearts asunder like the 
words, “ Command and obey.” She had 
always been good to her people, and had 
received every kindness from her servants 
with acknowledgments ; but at this mo- 
ment she did not think of Korlin Kegel, 
her whole heart was absorbed in the 
thought that Axel must be saved from 
shame and dishonor ; and the friendly face 
of Frau Niissler shone upon her through 
the rain and the darkness, like the 
nearest, and the only star. “ Thither ! 
thither ! ” 

“ Good heavens ! ” said Frau Niissler, 
going to the window, “Jochen, what a 
storm ! ” 

“ Ye3, mother, what shall we do about 
it!” 

“ Dear heart ! ” said Frau Niissler, sit- 
ting down again, in her arm-chair, “sup- 
pose one were out in it! I should be 
frightened almost to death.” 

Frau Niissler went on knitting, and 
Jochen smoked, and everything was quiet 
and comfortable in the room, when Ban- 
sclian, under Jochen’s chair, uttered a 
short bark, such as signifies, in canine lan- 
guage : “What is that?” Receiving no 
answer, he lay still, but all at once he 
started up, and went with his old stiff 
legs, to the door, and began to whine 
vehemently. 

“ Bauschan ! ” cried Frau Niissler, 

“ What ails the old fellow ? What do you 
want ! ” 

“ Mother,” said Jochen, who knew Bau- 
schan as well as Bauschan knew him, 

“ Somebody is coming.” And the door 
was thrown open, and a pale, female form 
tottered in and a strong girl supported 
her, and seated her on Frau Nussler’s 
divan. 

“ Dear heart ! ” cried Frau Niissler, 
starting up, and seizing the young Frau’s 
hands, “ what is this ? What does it 


mean ? Good gracious ! wet through and 
through ! ” 

“ Yes, indeed ! ” said Korlin. 

“ Jochen, what are you sitting there for ? 
Run and call Mining ! Tell Mining to 
come, and bid Diirt to make camomile 
tea.” 

And Jochen also sprang up, and ran 
out, as fast as he could, and Frau Niissler 
took off the young Frau’s shawl, and 
wiped the rain from her face and her fair 
hair, with her handkerchief, and Mining 
shot into the room like a pistol-ball, and 
was full of questions ; but Frau Niissler 
cried, “ Mining, there is no time for look- 
ing and questioning ; bring some of your 
clothes and linen, quickly, into my bed- 
room.” And when Mining was gone, she 
herself asked : 

“ Korlin Kegel, what does this mean ? ” 

“ Ah, Madam, I don’t know ; to be sure, 
she got a long letter this evening.” 

Mining returned quickly, and Frau 
Niissler and Korlin took the young Frau 
into the bedroom, and when she was un- 
dressed, and had drunk the tea, and lay in 
Frau Niissler’s bed, her senses returned, 
for it was mere physical weakness which 
had overpowered her, and if the first 
shock, and the dreadful feeling that there 
was no creature who could help her, had 
turned her brain a little, here by this 
friendly face, and this friendly treatment, 
she was herself again. She sat up in bed, 
and looked confidingly into Frau Nussler’s 
eyes : “You told me once, if I were ever 
in trouble, you would help me.” 

“And so I will,” said Frau Niissler, 
quite overcome, and stroking her hands 
she said “ Tell me, what is it ? ” 

“ Ah, much ! ” cried the young Frau, 

“ our laborers are discontented, we are in 
debt, deeply in debt, they are going to sell 
the estate ” 

“ Preserve us ! ” cried Frau Niissler, 

“ but there is time enough for that ! ” 

“I could have borne that,” said the 
young Frau, “but another trouble has 
driven me to you, and I cannot and dare 
not tell you ” 

“ Don’t speak of it, then, gracious Frau. 
But this isn’t business for women ; we 
ought to have a man’s counsel, and if you 
feel able, we might drive over to see my 
brother Karl, at Rahnstadt.” 

“ Ah, I could go ; but how should I look 
the man in the face, whom »” 

“ That is where you are mistaken, gra- 
cious Frau, you don’t know him. Jo- 
chen ! ” she cried at the door, “ let Krischan 
harness up, but let him make haste, and do 
you make haste, too ! Mining ! ” she cried 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


273 


at another door, “ bring your new Sunday 
mantle and hat, and a shawl ; we are 
going out.” 

All was quickly ready, and as she got 
into the carriage, Frau Nussler said to 
Krischan : 

“ Krischan, you know I don’t like fast 
driving ; but drive fast to-night ! We 
must be in Rahnstadt in half an hour. 
Else they will have gone to bed,” she 
added to the young Frau. 

The little assessor had just gone home 
from the Frau Pastorin’s, Habermann and 
Brasig had said “ Good-night 1 ” and gone 
up-stairs, and Brasig opened the window 
and looked out, to observe the weather : 
“ Karl,” said he, “ what a fragrance there 
is after the storm ! The whole air is full 
of atmosphere.” Just then a carriage 
stopped at the Frau Pastorin’s, and the 
light from the house shone directly upon 
it. “ Preserve us ! ” cried Brasig. “ Karl, 
there are your sister and Mining, at this 
time of night I ” 

“ Can any misfortune have happened ! ” 
exclaimed Habermann, snatching the can- 
dle, and running down to the door. 

“ Sister,” he asked hastily, as Frau 
Niissler met him at the foot of the stairs, 
“ why have you come here, in the night ? 
Mining,” — but he stopped abruptly, — 
“ gracious Frau ! You here, at this 
time ? ” 

“ Karl, quick ! ” said Frau Nussler, “ the 
gracious Frau wishes to speak with you 
alone. Make haste, before the others 
come ! ” 

Habermann opened the Frau Pastorin’s 
best room, and led the young Frau in ; he 
followed her, just catching, as he shut the 
door, the beginning of Brasig’s speech, on 
the stairs : 

“ May you keep the nose on your face ! 
What have you come here for? Excuse 
me, for coming down in my shirt sleeves ; 
Karl very inconsiderately took away the 
light, and I couldn’t find my coat, in the 
dark. But where is he, and where is 
Mining ? ” 

Frau Nussler was not obliged to answer 
these questions, for Louise came out of the 
Frau Pastorin’s room with a light. 

“ Bless me I aunt ! ” 

« Louise, come in here, and you, Brasig, 
put your coat on, and come down to the 
Frau Pastorin’s room ! ” They did so, 
and Frau Pastorin came in also, and the 
hall was left empty and still, and if one 
had put his ear to the door on the right, 
he would have heard the honest, touching 
confession, which the youn<* Frau, at first 
with embarrassment and bitter tears, but 
18 


afterwards with entire confidence and se- 
cret hope in her heart, poured out to the 
old inspector; and if he had listened at 
the door on the left, he would have heard 
the most frightful lying from Frau Nussler, 
for it had occurred to the good lady that, 
since they had taken the gracious Frau for 
Mining, she might as well pass for Mining, 
till she had finished her business, so that 
they need not torment her with questions, 
and so she told them that Mining had a 
dreadful toothache, and that her brother 
Karl knew of a remedy, a sort of mag- 
netism, which must be applied between 
twelve and one o’clock at night, in per- 
fect silence ; and Frau Pastorin said she 
thought that was an unchristian proceed- 
ing, and Brasig remarked, “ I never knew 
that Karl had any taste for magnetism 
and doctoring.” And after a little, Haber- 
mann put his head in at the door, and said, 
“ Frau Pastorin, leave the door unlocked, 
I have an errand out, but I shall be back 
soon,” and before Frau Pastorin could 
say a word, he was gone, and he went 
to the street where Moses lived. 

CHAPTER XLV. 

Moses had become a very old man, but 
his health was still quite good, only that 
he was rather lame, and sleep would not 
come at his call ; so he used to sit up late 
into the night, in his arm-chair, with a 
cushion under his head, hours after his 
Bliimchen was asleep, and think over his 
old business affairs ; with new ones he 
would have nothing to do. David lay on 
the sofa, and talked, or slept, as he felt in- 
clined ; but I must do David the justice to 
say he was not an exception to the general 
rule of his fellow-believers, he took good 
care of his old father, and this Jewish 
fashion is one which many Christians 
would do well to follow. 

This evening they were chatting to- 
gether. 

“David,” said the old man, “what did I 
tell you ? You should not entangle your- 
self with Pomuffelskopp.” 

“Well? If I have entangled myself, I 
am well paid for it.” 

“ You have strewed dust on your head, 
you have eaten filth.” 

“ Are louis-d’ors filth ? ” 

“ Pomuffelskopp’s are.” 

“ Father, if you were willing, we could 
do a great business ; Pomuffelskopp is go- 
in 0, to sell Gurlitz.” 

“ Why?” 

« Well, he wants to sell.” 

“ 1 will tell you, David, because he isn’t 


274 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


sure of liis day-laborers, that they won’t 
set fire to his barns, or knock him on the 
head. I will tell you further : I shall not 
do the business, nor will you ; but your 
friend the notary will do it, he is too shrewd 
for you, and you are too young.” 

“ Father, I ” 

“ Hush, David ! I will tell you some- 
thing more ; you want to be rich, rich all 
at once. See, there is a pitcher with a 
narrow neck, half full of louis-d’ors, you 
reach in, take up a handful, and cannot get 
it out, you reach in and take one, and get 
it out easily, and so on, again and again, 
till you have them all.” 

“ Have I taken too large a handful? ” 

“ Hush, David, I have not done yet. 
You see two people, one throws a louis- 
d’or into clean water, and the other throws 
a handful into the gutter ; you go into the 
cold water and get the louis-d’or, and it is 
bright and clean ; you go into the gutter 
and get out the whole handful, and people 
turn away from you, for you are a stench 
in their nostrils. Pomuffelskopp has 
thrown his louis-d’ors into the gutter.” 

“ Well, they don’t smell of it.” 

“ If men do not smell them, they smell 
to heaven; but men do, that is to say, 
honest men ; but they are not offensive to 
Pomuffelskopp and the notary, their odor 
is like myrrh and frankincense.” 

David was going to say something, when 
there was a rap at the house-door. “ What 
is that ? ” asked David. 

The old man was silent ; then there came 
a louder rap. 

“ David, go and open the door ! ” 

“ What ? at this time of night ? ” 

“ David, open it ! When I was young, 
and went about with my pack, I often 
knocked at the door, and the door was 
opened to me, and now I am old, and shall 
soon stand before a door and knock, and 
the God of Abraham will say, ‘ Let him in, 
it is a man ! 1 This is a man, also. Open 
the door, David ! ” 

David obeyed, and Habermann entered. 
“ Wonder of wonders ! ” cried the old 
man, “ the inspector ! ” 

“ Yes, Moses, you must not take it ill. 
I could not help it, I must speak with you 
confidentially about a matter of business.” 
“ Go out, David ! ” 

David made a sour face, but went. 

“ It isn’t of much use,” said Moses, “ he 
will stand at the door, and listen.” 

“jNever mind, Moses, I cannot say to 
you what I would here. Can you not 
come with me to my house ? ” 

“ Habermann, I am an old man.” 

“ Yes, indeed, I know it ; but the air is 


mild, the moon is risen ; I will take you 
by the arm ; yes, Moses, I will carry you, 
if you say so.” 

“ Well, what is it, then ? ” 

“Moses, I cannot tell you here; you 
must hear with your own ears, and see 
with your own eyes. You can do a good 
work.” 

“ Habermann, you are an honest man, 
you have always been a friend to me, you 
will do what is right. Call David.” 

Habermann opened the door; to be 
sure, there he stood : 

“ Herr Inspector, you must not take my 
father out to-night, he is an old man.” 

“ David ! ” cried the old man, “ bring 
me my fur boots ! ” 

“Father!, you mustn’t go! I will call 
mother.” 

“ Call mother, if you want to, I shall 
go.” 

“ What are you going to do ? ” 

“ Transact important business.” 

“ Then I will go too.” 

“David, you are too young; bring me 
the boot?.” 

There was no help for it, David must 
bring them and put them on ; Habermann 
took the old man firmly by the arm, Moses 
took his usual grip in his left coat-pocket, 
on account of the lacking suspender,- and, 
leaning on Haber mann’s arm, hobbled 
slowly over to the Frau Pastorin’s house. 

As Habermann and old Moses crossed 
the Frau Pastorin’s threshold, they made 
something of a noise, for Moses stumbled 
at the door, and came near falling. Frau 
Pastorin, of course, heard the commotion, 
as did the whole company with her ; “ Ah, 
there comes Habermann with poor Mi- 
ning,” said she, and running to the door put 
out her head ; but when she expected to 
see Mining, though perhaps with a swelled 
cheek, there stood old Moses in his dress- 
ing-gown, and fur boots, with his old face 
full of wrinkles, and looking at her with 
his great black eyes : 

“ Good evening, Frau Pastorin ! ” 

The little Frau Pastorin started back, 
almost to the middle of the room ; “ Pre- 
serve us ! ” cried she, “ Habermann is car- 
rying on all sorts of magic and unchris- 
tian preformances, now he is bringing his 
old Jew into the house, at midnight ; is 
this on account of Mining’s toothache ? ” 

Frau Niissler felt as if she were stand- 
ing in her kitchen, dressing fish, and had 
just taken hold of a great pike, and the 
creature had snapped at her thumb, and 
was pressing his teeth deeper and deeper 
into her flesh, and she must keep still, else 
he would tear open her whole thumb. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


275 


What had possessed Frau Niissler to tell 
a story, and such a story, which might 
come out any moment ! 

“ Frau Pastorin,” said Brasig, “ as for 
Moses, that was only an appearance ; it 
could not have been himself, for I was 
there yesterday, and he told me expressly, 
he was not able to go out any longer.” 

“ Ah ! ” interposed Louise, “ father has 
certainly some important business with 
the old man, and aunt knows about it, and 
so^ she has told us that story about Mining. 
What should father be doing with such 
nonsense ? ” 

The pike pressed liis teeth deeper into 
Frau Niissler’s flesh ; but she set her own 
teeth together, and held out. 

“ Eh, see 1 ” cried she, “ Louise, you are 
dreadfully clever ! Clever children are a 
. blessing for their parents, but” — here she 
suddenly pulled her thumb from the pike’s 
teeth — “I wish you had been a good deal 
more stupid. I will tell you ; Mining isn’t 
there, it is the gracious Frau from Pum- 
pelhagen, who has some business to attend 
to with Karl and Moses.” 

The little Frau Pastorin was quite vexed, 
partly because she was not sooner in- 
formed, for, in her own house, she was 
surely the nearest, partly because, after 
long years, she had, for the first time, dis- 
covered that her good neighbour Frau 
Niissler was capable of the most horrible, 
unchristian lying. 

“ And that story was all a lie then ? ” 
she inquired. 

“Yes, Frau Pastorin,” said Frau Niiss- 
ler, looking like one of the condemned. 

“ Frau Niissler,” said the Frau Pastorin, 
and it seemed as if an invisible hand had 
dropped upon her shoulders the little 
black mantle of her sainted pastor, “ lying 
is a horrible, unchristian vice.” 

“ I know it, Frau Pastorin ; I never lied j 
for myself, in my life. When I tell lies, it 
is only for the benefit of other people. I 
thought it would be too bad for the poor 
Frau, who is in such trouble, to be 
plagued with questions, and since you all 
took her for Mining I merely said yes, and 
made up a little story.” 

It seemed now as if the invisible hand 
had endowed the Frau Pastorin with her 
blessed Pastor’s bands also, and she be- 
gan : 

“ Dear, you are in a dreadful state, you 
are lying at this very moment, you think j 
that is right which is wrong, you lie ” . 

“With your gracious permission, Frau j 
Pastorin,” interrupted Zachary Brlisig, j 
taking the side of his old treasure, “ 1 1 
must interrupt your discourse ; I am quite 1 


of Frau Niissler’s opinion. Do you see, 
last week the Frau Syndic called to me, 
and asked me, very kindly, ‘ Herr Inspect- 
or, is it true that the Frau Pastorin once 
held a rendezvous in a ditch ’ ” 

“Brasig!” screamed the little Frau 
Pastorin, and mantle and bands were gone 
directly. 

“ Don’t be troubled ! ” said Uncle Brasig, 
throwing a glance at Louise, “I can be dis- 
creet, upon occasion. ‘ No,’ I said to the 
Frau Syndic, ‘it is an abominable lie.’ 
And so I told a lie for you, Frau Pastorin, 
and, if I must be roasted in hell for it, I 
beg that you will look down from heaven 
sometimes and afford me a little relief.” 

The Frau Pastorin had something to 
say, but Habermann looked in at the 
door : “ Oh, Brasig, come here a mo- 
ment ! ” 

“ Habermann ” began the little 

Frau. 

“ Frau Pastorin, I shall come back di- 
rectly.” 

Brasig went. 

On the other side of the hall they were 
as much excited, but in a different way. 
When Habermann entered the room with 
Moses, the young Frau rose from the sofa, 
with a pang in her heart, and Moses stood 
astonished. 

“ The gracious Frau von Rainbow,” said 
Habermann, and, turning to the lady, 
“This is my old friend Moses; but he is 
much fatigued from the walk. You will 
excuse me, gracious Frau ; ” and he 
brought him to the sofa, and laid him 
down, and took cushions and pillows and 
put them under his head. 

When the old man had recovered a little, 
Habermann asked, “ Moses, do you know 
the gracious Frau ? ” 

“I have seen her riding past my house, 
I have also seen her walking near Pum- 
pelhagen ; I greeted her, and she kindly 
returned the old Jew’s greeting.” 

“ Moses, do you know that the Herr von 
Rambow is deeply in debt ? ” 

“ I know it.” 

“ You have sued him.” 

“ I know it.” 

“ Moses, you must withdraw your suit ; 
your money is safely invested.” 

“ What do you call safe ? I spoke to 
you about it last spring. In such times as 
these property is not safe, a man is safer ; 
but Herr von Rambow is not a man whom 
I can trust, he is a bad manager, he is a 
fool about horses, he is a ” 

“ Hold ! Remember his wife is here.” 

“ Well, I remember.” 

Frida was suffering tortures. They 


276 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


were silent for awhile ; then Habermann 
began again : 

“ If there was a prospect that the estate 
could be rented ” 

“ Who would rent in such times ? ” said 
Moses. 

“ Or the Herr von Rambow would agree 
to engage a regular inspector, and leave 
the management to him ” 

“ Habermann,” interrupted Moses, “ you 
are an old man, and you are a shrewd man. 
You know the world, and you know the 
Herr von Rambow ; did you ever know a 
Herr who said, ‘ I will be master no longer, 
I will let another be master ? * ” 

Habermann was rather taken aback by 
this question, he looked inquiringly at the 
young Frau, and Frida dropped her eyes, 
and said : 

“ I am afraid Herr Moses is right ; my 
husband does not understand it.” 

Moses looked at her approvingly, and 
muttered to himself, “ She is a clever wo- 
man, she is an honest woman.” 

Habermann was perplexed ; he sat in 
deep thought, and finally said : 

“ Well, Moses, if the Frau von Rambow, 
or I, or circumstances, should influence the 
young Herr to consent to this plan, and 
if, for the security of the creditors, he 
should give a promise to resign the man- 
agement, and engage a competent in- 
spector, would you withdraw your suit V ” 

“ I would withdraw it for a year ; well, 
say two years.” 

“ Well, then you will leave your money 
in the estate ; but there are other debts 
which must be paid ; there are Pomuchels- 
kopp’s eight thousand thalers.” 

“ I know it,” said Moses to himself. 

“ Then there the debts owing to trades- 
men and mechanics, which have not been 
paid for a year ; and the people’s wages 
must be paid and repairs attended to ; it 
will take about six thousand thalers.” 

“ I know it,” said Moses. 

“Then there is a note for thirteen 
thousand thalers, in Schwerin, which must 
be paid immediately.” 

“ Good heavens 1 ” exclaimed Moses, “ I 
did not know a word of it.” 

“ Yes, and then,” continued Habermann, 
without noticing this remark, “ we must 
have two or three thousand thalers over, 
to carry on the estate properly.” 

“ Let me go ! It is a bad business, a 
very bad business ! ” cried Moses, making 
a motion as if he would rise from the sofa. 

“ Hold on, Moses 1 I have not done 
yet.” 

“ Let me go ! Let me go I I am an old 
man, I cannot involve myself in such a 


business,” and with that he rose to his 
feet, and made preparations to go. 

“ Hear me first, Moses ! I do not ask 
you to lend the money, — it would be about 
thirty-one thousand thalers, — there are 
other people, safe people, who will lend it ; 
you shall merely advance it until St. 
John’s day.” 

“ God of Abraham ! Advance in these 
times, in fourteen days, thirty-one thousand 
thalers ! And that for fools who involve 
themselves in a business like that ! ” 

“ Well, Moses, just listen to me. Write 
down the names and the amounts as I 
mention them. You know the Frau Pas- 
torin? Write down the Frau Pastorin 
for five thousand thalers.” 

“ Well, I know her, she is a good wo- 
man, she helps the poor ; but why should I 
write ? ” 

“ Come, just write.” 

Moses took a pencil out of his pocket, 
moistened the point, and wrote : 

“ Well, there it is ; five thousand tha- 
lers.” 

“ You know Briisig, too ? ” 

“ Why shouldn’t I know Br'asig ? Who 
does not know Brasig ? He is a good 
man, an entertaining man ; always visited 
me when I was sick, tried to make a dem- 
ocrat of me, wanted me to make speeches 
in the Reformverein, but he is a good 
man.” 

“Put him down for six thousand thalers. 
You know my brother-in-law Niissler ? ” 

“ I have always bought his wool. He is 
a quiet man, and a good man, smokes to- 
bacco ; but he isn’t the man of the house, 
his wife is.” 

“ Well, then put my sister down for thir- 
teen thousand thalers.” 

“ No, I’ll not do it. She is a woman, she 
is a very cautious woman ; bargained with 
me for two groschen more the stone.” 

“ Write it ! My sister will tell you, her- 
self, this very night. So ! and now write, 
for me, seven thousand thalers, and there 
are the thirty-one thousand.” 

“ Good heavens 1 ” exclaimed Moses, “ he 
will give his hard-earned money, that he 
has laid up for his old age, and for his only 
child ! And for whom ? For a young man 
who has tried to shoot him, who has de- 
famed his honest name, who has treated 
him like a dog ! ” 

“ That doesn’t concern you, Moses, that 
is my affair. I ” 

The young Frau had been sitting in 
torment, repressing the bitterest feelings 
in her soul; but she could bear it no 
longer, she started up, and running to 
Habermann laid her hands on his shoul- 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


277 


ders, crying, “ No, no ! that must not be ! 
Neither these good people, nor you, shall 
be involved in our misfortunes. If we are 
to blame, we must suffer for it. I will 
bear — oh, and Axel would much rather 
bear misfortune and disgrace ! but — but ” 
-y she broke out involuntarily — “ the poor 
sisters 1 ” 

Habermann took hold of her gently, and 
replaced her in her chair, whispering, 
“ Control yourself ! You have trusted the 
business in my hands ; I will bring it to a 
happy issue.” 

A flood of tears burst from Frida’s 
eyes. 

“ Good heavens ! ” said Moses to him- 
self, laying his pencil back in his pocket- 
book, “ Now she is going to be magnani- 
mous, too. Do you call this business? 
This is no business. And yet it is all 
honest 1 It makes the old man cry, too,” 
and he wiped the tears from his eyes, with 
the skirt of his dressing-gown. “ Well, we 
will see what the Jew can do.” 

Habermann had gone out and called 
Brasig, and told him, hastily, in the hall, 
•what was in the wind, and now he came 
in with him. 

Brasig came m with rather a distracted 
expression on his face, at which Habermann 
was secretly annoyed; he looked half as 
if he had something to sell at the fair, and 
half as if he were going to make a Christ- 
mas gift. He marched up to Moses, with 
his head in the air : “ Moses, what Haber- 
mann has put down for me, I will sub- 
scribe to, Zachary Brasig; it is all the 
same to me, cash or bonds, but not before 
St. Anthony’s.” 

“ Good,” said Moses. “ You are a safe 
man, Herr Inspector, I will advance it.” 

Brasig went up to the gracious Frau, 
who had rested her arm on the table and 
covered her eyes with her hand, as if the 
light hurt them, made a deep bow, and 
inquired after her health, and when she 
had answered quietly, he asked, “ And how 
is the young Herr von Rambow ? ” 

Frida shrank together, and Habermann, 
who had intended to call in the others, 
one by one, saw that a diversion must be 
made, or Brasig, in all innocence, would 
distress the young Frau with his questions 
and remarks. 

“Zachary,” said he, “do me the favor 
to bring in the Frau Pastorin and my sis- 
ter ; Louise may come, too.” 

“ Very well, Karl,” and presently he re- 
turned with the women. 

Frau Pastorin went up directly to the 
young Frau, and pressed her to her heart, 
and could not restrain herself from weep- 


ing bitterly. Louise stood by, with the 
deepest, though silent, compassion in her 
heart. 

“ God of Abraham ! ” exclaimed Moses, 
“ what a night is this ! They want to 
transact a business, and they cry over 
each other, and press each other’s hands, 
and hang about each other’s necks, and are 
magnanimous and affectionate, and keep 
an old man, like me, sitting up till morn- 
ing. Mamselle Habermann,” he added 
aloud, “ when you are done with your ten- 
der feelings, perhaps you can get me a 
drop of wine ; I am an old man.” 

Louise ran and brought a bottle of 
wine and a glass, and Brasig said, “ Bring 
me a glass, too, Louise ! ” and had possi- 
bly the intention of having a little frolic 
with Moses, for he sat down by him, and 
began to touch glasses : “ To your good 
health, Moses ! ” 

But it wasn’t successful, Moses did not 
seem disposed to respond, and Habermann 
brought up his sister; Moses moistened 
his pencil, and wrote. After Frau Niiss- 
ler came the Frau Pastorin ; Moses wrote 
again, and before the young Frau, who 
sat in the corner with Louise, knew what 
was going on, it was all settled ; and 
Moses stood up, saying : 

“ Shall I tell you some news ? I will 
tell you : the thirty-one thousand thalers 
are secured, and the people are all good ; 
but it is no business, your magnanimity 
has run away with you. Well, what will 
you have ? I am a Jew, it has run away 
with me too ; I will advance the money. 
But I am an old man, I am a cautious man. 
If the Herr von Rambow will not employ 
an Inspector, and do as he ought, the 
business is worthless, and I will have 
nothing to do with it. When they lay 
me in the church-yard, under the fir-trees, 
where I have built an enclosure, then peo- 
ple would say, ‘ Well, he built that en- 
closure for himself; what is an enclosure 
of oaken-wood ? Shortly before his death 
he got honest people into trouble, only 
that he might make a speculation.’ There 
is Frau Niissler, there is Frau Pastorin, 
there is Herr Habermann, and there is also 
Herr Brasig. I have been a man of busi- 
ness, from my youth, first with my pack, 
and then with my produce and wool, and 
finally with my money, and as a man of 
business I will die ; but a cautious one. 
Come, Habermann, take hold of me, and 
help me home again! Good-night, Frau 
Niissler, my regards to Herr Jochen, he 
must come and see me. Good-night, Herr 
Inspector Brasig, you must come and see 
me too; but don’t talk about the. Reform 


278 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


any more, I am an old man. Good-night, 
Mamselle Habermann, when you pass my 
house again, greet me as kindly as you 
did last time. Good-night, Frau Pastorin, 
when you go to bed, you can say I 
have had honest people in my house to- 
night, the old Jew, also, is an honest 
man.” Then he went up to Frida : 

“ Good-night, gracious Frau, you have 
wept to-night, because you are not used 
to it ; but never fear, it will all come right ; 
you have a new friend, it is the old Jew ; 
but the old Jew has shed tears over you, 
and he will not forget it; he does not 
weep often now.” 

He turned away, and, saying “ Good- 
night ! ” once more, without looking 
round, went out with Habermann, Louise 
lighting them to the door. All was silent 
in the room ; each was busy with his own 
thoughts. The first to recollect herself 
was Frau Niissler; she called Krischan, 
who was asleep in the hall, and made 
him bring around the carriage. Krischan 
obeyed with unusual celerity, for, when 
Habermann returned from convoying Mo- 
ses home, the young Frau and his sister 
were already in the carriage, and he had 
barely time to say a few friendly, hopeful 
words to the young Frau, when Frau 
Niissler said, “ Good-night, Karl ! She 
must go back to her child. Krischan, to 
Pumpelhagen 1 ” and they drove off. 

Habermann was still standing in the 
street, looking after the carriage, and was 
just turning to go into the house, when 
another carriage came slowly up the street, 
with a pair of gray horses shining before 
it, in the moonlight. The old man stepped 
back, and stood in the doorway, his daugh- 
ter had left a candle for him, in the hall, 
and he stood there like a gigantic shadow 
against the light. He waited to see who 
was driving, so late or so early, through 
the silent streets ; the carriage came 
nearer, it stopped before the house. 

“ Take the reins ! ” cried a voice which 
seemed strangely familiar to him, and a 
man on the front seat threw back the 
reins to the coachman, and jumped 
down. 

“ Habermann ! Habermann ! Don’t you 
know me ? ” 

“ Franz ! Herr von Rambow ! ” 

“ What is going on here, that you are 
up so late ? No misfortune ? ” 

“ No, — thank God ! — no 1 I will tell 
you directly.” 

The young man threw his arms about 
the old man, and pressed him to his heart, 
and kissed him, again and again, and it 
was no misfortune, it was the purest hap- 


piness, and yet one might have supposed 
it was misfortune, if he had seen the 
maiden who sat in the next room. The 
color was all gone out of her cheeks, and 
her great eyes grew larger and larger, 
staring at the door, and she pressed both 
hands against her heart, and when she 
tried to rise, it seemed as if the earth, 
trembled, and thunder rolled above her, 
and the voice outside struck like lightning 
to her heart. She did not know, she could 
not make it clear in this brief moment ; 
but the garden, which she had planted 
years ago, with quiet, modest flowers, with 
shady trees, where she had so often 
watched the evening star, and on which 
the silent night had fallen, stood suddenly 
revealed before her, in the lightning flashes, 
and when these passed over, and the heart 
was bowed down, suddenly the sun arose, 
with such blinding radiance, that she must 
turn away her eyes ; but yet she could 
not, for in her quiet garden wonder after 
wonder was bursting into bloom in the 
sunlight ; the modest violets changed into 
red roses, shining like a bridal wreath, and 
the odor of the fragrant blossoms changed 
into the song of nightingales calling to 
their mates. And her hands sank down 
from her heart, and her heart beat evenly 
and full, and when he entered the door, 
holding Habermann’s hand, she threw her- 
self on his breast, and the earth no longer 
trembled, and the thunder no longer rolled, 
and no lightning flashes smote her ; but 
light was all around her, pure light ! And 
they spoke to each other, they talked much 
with each other : “ Franz ! ” “ Louise ! ” 
and no one understood their language, and 
they all stood about her, and could not 
understand, for it was long since they had 
heard the language, and yet they must 
have had some perception of its meaning, 
for Uncle Brasig took pity on the young 
people, who were flying away, above the 
earth, among the clouds, and brought them 
back, with a shock, to terra firma. 

“ Frau Pastorin,” said he, “ when I had 
three sweethearts at once ” 

“For shame, Brasig 1” cried Frau Pas- 
torin, through her tears of emotion. 

“ Frau Pastorin, you said the same thing, 
when I wrote, through Doctor Urtlingen, 
to the young Herr von Rambow, at Paris; 
but I wasn’t at all ashamed, and I am not 
ashamed to-day; I have never in my life 
done anything to be ashamed of. For, 
you see, Frau Pastorin,” and he placed 
himself before her with great dignity, and 
blew his nose, but rather above it, as if 
something had got into his eyes ; “ you see, 
Frau Pastorin, I have brought about a 


279 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


good many rendezvous lately ; first in the 
water-ditch ” 

“ Brasig ! ” cried the little Frau Pasto- 
rin. 

“Be quiet, Frau Pastorin, I shall say 
nothing about it, and I will tell lies for 
you, if it is necessary. Secondly, Gottlieb 
and Lining in the cherry-tree; thirdly, 
Rudolph and Mining, also in the cherry- 
tree; but you must not think it strange 
if a man has a certain feeling of pride, at 
having brought about a rendezvous be- 
tween Ralmstadt and Paris ; and that is 
what I have done.” 

“Yes,” said Franz, coming down to the 
earth, “ you have done that, and I thank 
you heartily for your beautiful letter. It 
is here, I keep it always by me.” 

“Hm!” said Uncle Brasig, “always by 
him! Very much obliged! Would you 
have the kindness to tell me, quite sin- 
cerely, do you value the letter so highly, 
on account of my style, — you know, Karl, 
I was always ahead of you in style, at 
Pastor Behrend’s, — or is it because the 
letter-paper belonged to Louise ? ” 

“For both reasons 1 ” cried Franz, laugh- 
ing heartily, “but chiefly because of the 
good news contained in your letter. Yes,” 
he added, turning to Habermann, “now 
these torments, these self-torments, are 
over, the last shadow of reason for our 
separation has vanished,” and he went up 
to Louise, and gave her a kiss ; it was a 
very remarkable kiss, it might have been 
divided by twelve, and each result have 
been an entire kiss. 

“ Bless me ! ” said the Frau Pastorin, 
at last, “ the morning is shining in at the 
window.” 

“ Yes, Frau Pastorin,” said Brasig, “and 
you have been watching all night, and you 
are an old lady, and not used to it; you 
should go to bed.” 

“ Brasig is right,” said Habermann, 
“ and you, Louise, go to bed, too ! ” 

“ Come, child,” said the Frau Pastorin, 
“there will be another day to-morrow, 
and a happy day, too,” and she kissed 
her. “ Now your happy days are coming, 
and, in yours, I shall live mine over again.” 
They went out. 

“ Herr von Rambow,” said Habermann. 

“Why not Franz?” said the young 
man. 

“ Well, then, Franz, my dear son, you 
can sleep in my bed, up-stairs, with Bra- 
sig, I ” 

“ I cannot sleep,” interposed Franz. 

“Karl,” said Brasig, “I am not at all 
sleepy, either, my time for sleeping and 
nightly rest is over.” He went to the 1 


window, opened it, and looked out at the 
weather : “ Karl, it looks to me as if this 
morning would be a good time for the 
perch to bite. I must go out, I shall get 
too fidgety here ; I will go fishing ; in the 
Rexow firs, there is a place under the 
trees, where there is a splendid perch. 
So, good-morning, young Herr von Ram- 
bow, good-morning, Karl, entertain your- 
self with your future son-in-law.” With 
that, he went off. 

“But how did it happen, dear father,” 
asked Franz, “that I found you all up so 
late ? I started from Paris, immediately 
on receiving Brasig’s letter, travelled 
night and day, and arrived at my estate day 
before yesterday. But there was so much 
to be attended to, — my inspector is just 
leaving, he is going to be married, — that 
I could not leave, to come hither, until 
about this time yesterday morning. I had 
sent forward relays, however, and when I 
arrived, — well, I may as well confess, — 
I wanted at least to see the house in which 
Louise was sleeping. And here I found 
you all stirring.” 

“ Ah,” sighed Habermann, “ it was a sad 
occasion. It was on account of the young 
Ilerr von Rambow of Pumpelhagen, his 
wife was here herself. She has suffered 
terribly, but there was no help for it ; and 
even yet everything is in suspense. Would 
God you had come half an hour sooner ; 
then I believe it could all have been set- 
tled.” And he related what had hap- 
pened, first and last, and all with such 
sincere regret and such cordial interest, 
that an earnest wish arose in Franz’s 
heart; he must help, also, in the matter, 
and the best of it was, he could help. He 
had had the fortune to have trustworthy 
guardians, and honest and capable inspect- 
ors ; his property and estates had in- 
creased in value under their hands, and, 
more recently, under his own, for he had 
not made it a ladder, on which to descend 
to abysses of misfortune and ruin, and his 
good sense had kept him from folly. 
Now he could render a thank-offering for 
his happiness, for he had not only the will 
but the ability to do good. 

The two friends talked of many things, 
and what seemed good to the one was 
approved by the other ; they would both 
help, and it was settled that Franz should 
have an interview with Moses; but, in 
spite of all their sincerity, each had a 
secret from the other. Habermann dared 
say nothing of Axel’s debt to his sisters, 
the young Frau had confessed it to him 
with bitter tears and a bleeding heart, the 
secret was not his own property, but that 


i 


280 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


of another, dearly bought and dearly won. 
Franz also had his secret, but it must have 
been a good one, for his face was full of 
thoughtful joy, and he put one foot up 
comfortably, on the sofa, and then the 
other, and he nodded to Habermann, in a 
friendly way, as he went on talking, and 
he kept nodding, and finally nodded him- 
self to sleep. Youth and nature must 
have their rights. Old Habermann got 
up softly, and looked at him. Joyous 
thoughts were still hovering over his face, 
like the beams of the setting sun over a 
clear, still, transparent lake, and the old 
man brought a coverlet, and wrapped it 
gently over him, and then he went out 
into the Frau Pastorin’s little back-garden, 
and seated himself in an arbor, which he 
himself had planted, several years before, 
in his trouble and sorrow, and looked at 
the window of the room where his daugh- 
ter slept. Ah, did she sleep ? Who can 
sleep, with bright sunlight shining in the 
heart ? Who can sleep when every sound 
turns into a melody singing of love and 
happiness V A light step sounded on the 
gravel in the garden path, and a lovely 


maiden, in a light morning dress, ap- 
proached, turning up her face to the sun- 
rising, and, with her hands folded on her 
breast, gazing at the morning sun, as if she 
no longer feared to be blinded by its light ; 
but tears ran down her rosy cheeks. 
Right, Louise ! The sun is God’s sun, and 
the happiness is God’s happiness, and 
when it shines bright and dazzling in our 
eyes, tears are good, they soften the light. 
She bent down, and lifted a rose, to inhale 
its fragrance, but did not pluck it. Right, 
Louise 1 Roses are earthly roses, joys are 
earthly joys, they both blossom in their 
season, leave them to their season. Wilt 
thou enjoy them before their time, thou 
hast only a withered rose on thy breast, 
and a withered joy in thy heart. 

She walked on slowly, through the gar- 
den, and when she came to the arbor, 
where her old father sat, she sprang 
towards him, threw herself into his arms, 
and nestled her head upon his bosom: 
“ Father ! father ! ” Right, Louise ! Here 
is thy rightful place ! In thy father’s heart 
beams God’s sunshine, in thy father’s 
heart bloom earthly roses. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


281 


CHAPTER XLVI. 

Frau Niissler took Frida back to Pum- 
pelhagen, dropping many a comforting 
word, which fell, like the dew upon a 
scorched field, on the young Frau’s heart, 
and if it were not yet quite ready to sprout 
with fresh green, Frau Niissler would have 
said, “ Never fear 1 My brother Karl will 
manage that.” 

So the young Frau entered her room, 
in the gray morning, in quite a different 
mood from that of the evening before, 
when she had rushed out into the storm ; 
and, with hope, love and faith had returned 
to her heart. She went up softly and 
kindly to Fika Degel, who sat in an arm- 
chair, watching by her child, and had 
fallen asleep, and stroking her hair gently 
said : 

“ Fika, I thank you very much ; but you 
must be weary ; go to bed.” 

“ Gracious Frau,” said Fika, starting 
up from a dream of her lover, “ she has 
slept very quietly ; I had to give her drink 
only once.” 

“ Good,” said the young Frau, “ go to 
bed.” And when the maid was gone, she 
stood before her child, and looked at her ; 
no 1 no ! the sad lot of a poor noble Friiu- 
lein was not suited to that lovely face, and 
the thoughts of last evening were not 
suited to the thoughts of this morning. 
Her soul had suffered torments, fearful 
torments, during the night, but in the 
night, and through the torments, hope had 
been born in her heart, and this child of 
auguish had fallen upon her neck, and 
nestled closely to her, and kissed her, and 
stroked her face, and the blue eyes were 
beaming heavenward, and in them shone 
confidence, — yes, and victory. 

The young Frau went to bed, and before 
her rose all the forms of the night : Korlin 
Kegel and Frau Niissler, the Frau Pastorin 
and Louise, Habermann and Briisig, they 
all stood, clear and distinct, before her 
eyes, she understood them all, in their 
true-hearted conduct and character; but 
among these images was another, which 
she did not understand ; that was the old 
Jew. Such clear light fell upon him, and 
such dark shadows lay in the folds of his 
dressing-gown, and the wrinkles of his 
face, — she had never seen such an image, 
— that all grew indistinct before her eyes, 
and when she thought of his leave-taking, 
the image grew larger and larger, and even 
more indistinct, and she folded her hands 
upon her breast, and slept. 

She slept, and the old Jew was in her 


dreams, but they were happy dreams ; 
only once she started up, for it seemed to 
her that a carriage drove into the yard. 
She listened; but body and soul longed 
for rest ; her head sank back on the pillow, 
and the friendly dream again hovered over 
her fair head, and whispered wonderful 
things in her ears. 

But she had not heard falsely; a car- 
riage had really driven into the yard, and 
in the carriage sat her husband. Axel 
had been driving about the country, like a 
speculator buying up eggs and poultry ; 
he had halted before every door, and 
knocked, like a travelling beggar ; he had 
| asked help from business acquaintances, 
he had complained of his troubles to old 
, friends, whom he had learned to know at 
I the races, who had often borrowed money 
j from him ; nobody was at home, and those 
I whom he met accidentally had left their 
purses at home. So long as we go about 
j in brand new breeches, we have many 
friends, but when they are worn out, and 
our others have a patch on each knee, our 
friends feel ashamed of us. This was 
Axel’s bitter experience. Without his 
sisters’ knowledge, he had secretly been 
j in Schwerin ; he had gone to the Jew, who 
had transacted the business so readily and 
quickly ; but where were his securities ? 
From his hotel he had looked over towards 
the region where Franz’s estates lay ; but 
where was Franz? He had done the last 
thing possible, he had gone to his brother- 
in-law, Breitenburg, with whom he had 
always been on bad terms ; he had endured 
his cold reception, had told him of his ter- 
rible situation, but had said nothing about 
his sisters’ money ; Breitenburg had looked 
him sharply in the eyes, and turned his 
back upon him : 

“Tu l’as voulu, George Dandin! And 
do you think I will throw my hard-earned 
savings into this pit, dug by your folly ? 
It was not brought me by your sister.” 

Axel was going to say something about 
the seven thousand thalers, which his 
father had borrowed for him from Moses ; 
then his brother-in-law turned upon him, 
and asked him, right to his face, “ Where 
are the thirteen thousand thalers, out of 
which you have swindled your sisters ? ” 

That struck him dumb, — the brother- 
in-law knew it would, — he turned pale, 
rushed out of the door, and got into his 
carriage. 

“ Where ? ” asked the coachman. 

“ Home.” 

“ Where shall we stop to-night ? ” 

“ At home.” 


282 


SEED-TI^E AYD HARVEST. 


“ Herr, the horses won’t hold out.” 

“ They must.” 

So they drove home, and when he got 
out Johann stood by the two good 
browns : “ So, the two wheel-horses were 

driven to death before, and now the lead- 
ers are ruined ; we have a span of crip- 
ples.” 

Axel went up to his room with heavy 
steps, it was broad daylight ; in his room 
everything was as usual, and usually he 
found himself very comfortable there, and 
the old use and wont appealed softly to 
his heart ; but his heart was not the old 
heart, heart and mind were changed, and 
use and wont no longer harmonized with 
them. He was restless and troubled ; he 
opened the window, that the fresh morning 
air might cool his heated brow ; he threw 
himself into the chair, that stood before 
his writing table, and pressed his head in 
both hands, as if it were held in a vice. 
Then his eyes fell upon a letter, the writ- 
ing seemed familiar, he must have seen it 
before ; he opened it ; yes, it was from 
his sister. What had his brother-in-law, 
Breitenburg, called him ? Yes, that was 
it ! He looked out of the window ; behind 
the Rexow firs the sun was rising. 

He looked at the letter again ; it con- 
tained friendly words, but what did words 
avail, he had no money. He looked out 
of the window again, before him lay a 
field of wheat; ah, if it were ripe and 
threshed out, and had borne twenty-fold, 
then — nol no 1 even then it could not 
help him. And again his eyes returned to 
the letter; friendly words! but soon the 
words became more earnest, and looked at 
him sternly, he could not turn his eyes 
away ; he read them to the end, and there 
it stood : “ On this account, I have 

written to Frida also, for, dear, dear 
brother, if you have not safely invested 
our capital, we poor girls are utterly 
ruined ! ” 

“ Yes, ruined ! ” he cried, “ ruined ! ” 
and sprang from the chair, and strode 
about the room, He went to the window ; 
before him lay nature in her fullest splen- 
dor, and nature has power over every 
heart, but the heart must harmonize with 
nature, it must open itself fully and freely 
to the sunlight, and receive into itself the 
green earth and the blue heavens and the 
golden beams. But his heart was not 
open to these influences, his situation had 
overpowered him, and his thoughts turned 
solely and miserably to the most pitiable 
human resources. Money, money! He 
could coin no louis-d’ors from the sun- 
beams. 


He threw himself into his chair again ; 
so she knew it, too. He had told her 
many lies, which she could not prove false ; 
there was no use in lying now, she knew 
it. And she seemed to stand before him 
with her child in her arms, and to look at 
him sternly, and her clear gray eyes asked, 
“ Have we deserved this at your hands ? ” 
and his three sisters stood around him, 
with sunken cheeks and pale lips, saying, 
“ Yes Axel, dear Axel, utterly ruined ! ” 
And behind the old maids stood a darker 
form, in guise that was not of this earth, 
and that was his father, who called to him, 
“ Thou shouldst have been a prop for my 
old house, but thou hast taken away stone 
after stone, and my house is falling to the 
ground.” He could endure it no longer, 
he started up, — the ghosts vanished,— he 
ran up and down, and when he recollected 
himself, he was standing before a closet 
where he kept his fire-arms. Ah, he knew 
a place, so lonely, so still, it was the 
Lauban pond in the Rexow firs ; he had 
often been there with the chase, when the 
brave old forester, Slang, was hunting ; he 
could do it there. He opened the closet, 
and took out the revolver which Triddel- 
sitz had procured for him, to shoot at the 
day-laborers. He tried it ; yes ! it was 
loaded. He went out of the door, but as 
he crossed the landing, he saw t ; e door 
which led into Frida’s room, where his 
wife and his child lay sleeping; he was 
startled, he tottered back ; all the joy he 
had experienced in the faithful affection of 
his wife, in the lovely awakening nature 
of his child, came back to him ; he fell upon 
the threshold before the door, and burn- 
ing tears started from his eyes, and these 
tears, this earnest prayer to God, may have 
saved him, — we shall see how, — for the 
Lord holds us by slender, invisible threads. 

He rose up, the prayer had not been 
for his own soul, but for others ; he walked 
away, he went to the lonely Lauban pond. 
He threw himself down under the firs, be- 
hind a bush, took the revolver from his 
pocket, and laid it beside him ; he looked 
once more, eagerly, mournfully, at the 
world around him ; he looked once more 
at the sun, God’s beautiful sun, for the 
last time ; soon, night would fall upon 
him forever. The sun blinded him, he 
took out his handkerchief, and covered his 
eyes, and now the last, the most terrible 
thoughts overcame him. He sighed deep- 
ly ; “ It mustbb ! ” he exclaimed. 

“ A fine morning, Herr von Rambow ! ” 
cried a friendly, human voice, close by. 
Axel tore the cloth from .'his eyes, and 
threw it over the revolver. 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


“ You are up early ! ” said Zachary Br'a- 
sig, for it was he, and he threw himself 
down by Axel, on the grass. “ Have you 
come out fishing, too?” With that, he 
laid his hand on the handkerchief and the 
revolver : “ Ah, so ! You were going to 
practise pistol-shooting a little. I used to 
be a very good shot, myself, could shoot 
out the ace of hearts and the ace of club 3 , 
without fail.” 

Then he stood up, with the revolver in 
his hand : “ You see that mark on the fir 
yonder, — they are getting ready to fell 
timber, — I will wager four groschen, I 
never bet higher,” — bang ! the shot went 
wide of the mark, — bang ! missed it again, 
and yet again, and so on with the six 
shots. 

“ Who would have thought it ? All 
missed ! Who would have thought it ? 
Well, I have lost. Here are the four gro- 
schen. That is such an old fool of a pis- 
tol ! ” he cried, and tossed the revolver far 
out into the pond, “children and young 
people might hurt themselves with it.” 

Axel was in a strange humor ; all at 
once, between his firm, deliberate resolve, 
to which he had been driven through 
fierce struggle and conflict, and the dark 
portal he was about to enter, stood this 
familiar, yes, in his eyes even vulgar life, 
as audacious and impertinent as a peasant 
at a fair, which coul:l be shoved aside, nei- 
ther to the right hand nor the left. He 
started up : 

“ Herr ! ” 

“ Iierr-rr ! ” cried Brasig in return. 

“ What do you want here ? ” 

“ And what do you want here ? ” asked 
Brasig back again. 

“ You are an impertinent fool ! ” cried 
Axel. 

“ You are the greatest fool ! ” cried 
Uncle Brasig, “ you were about to commit 
the most fearful crime, from a reckless im- 
pulse, and you had forgotten everything, 
— your wife, your child. Hm ! just touch 
a little spring, then we are out of it all ! 
Wasn’t it so ? Who is the fool now ? ” 

Axel leaned against a tree, with one 
hand pressed to his heart, and the other 
shading his eyes from the sun, and before 
him stood this vulgar man, with a fishing- 
rod in his hand, and had interposed be- 
tween him and the dark portal, — it was 
life, however 1 

“ Do you see ! ” continued Uncle Brasig, 
“ if you had come three minutes earlier 
than I,” — those were the three minutes 
when he lay praying, on the threshold, for 
his wife and child, — “then you would be 
lying here, -with a hole in your head, a 


283 

frightful object; and when you had gone 
up to the throne of God, our Lord would 
have said to you : ‘ Thou fool ! Thou 
didst not know, what, this very night, thy 
dear gracious Frau was doing for thee, and 
the Herr Inspector Ilabermann, and Frau 
Nussler, and the Frau Pastorin and Moses, 
and — and the others,’ — “ and when the 
Lord had told you, do you know what you 
would have suffered ? Hell torments ! ” 

Axel removed his hand from his eyesj 
and stared at Brasig : 

“ What ? what did you say ? ” 

“ That thirty-one thousand thalers have 
been advanced for you, this night, and 
Moses advances it, and your cousin Franz 
has arrived, who may possibly do some- 
thing more. But you are an ignorant 
creature, who lets that greyhound of a 
Triddelsitz get revolvers, to shoot the 
day-laborers with, and then goes to shoot- 
ing himself.” 

“ Franz is here ? Franz, did you say ? ” 

“ Yes, he is here ; but he did not come 
on your account, he is here because he is 
determined to make Louise Habermann 
Frau von Rambow ; but if you want to 
thank anybody, — Franz will do some- 
thing, will perhaps do something more, — 
then go to your dear gracious Frau, and 
to Karl Habermann ; you can go to Moses 
also, if you like, and you must not forget 
Frau Nussler, and the Frau Pastorin, they 
have all been good to you this night.” 

I never attempted to shoot myself, and 
cannot tell exactly how a poor man would 
feel, when, between himself and his reso- 
lution, ordinary life presses in so forcibly. 
I should think it might be a little vexa- 
tious, as when a weary, weary traveller is 
offered a glass of flat, sour beer, — and 
Uncle Brasig looked a little sour, this 
morning, — which he may not refuse ; but 
then comes the love of life, dear, human 
life, and a wife, with a child on her arm, 
pours him a glass of cool, fresh wine, and 
he drains the glass : “ So ! now tell me 
what has happened.” 

Uncle Brasig related the good news, and 
Axel tottered from the tree, and fell upon 
the old man’s neck. 

“ Herr Brasig ! Dear Herr Brasig ! Is 
it all true ? ” 

“ What do you mean ? Do you think I 
would deceive you, at such a moment as 
this?” 

Axel turned dizzy before the black abyss, 
into which, just now, he had looked so 
boldly ; he staggered back, and there was 
a singing and a ringing in his ears, and a 
glowing and shining before his eyes, and 
everything to which he was usually indif- 


284 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


ferent pressed overpoweringly upon him, — 
he pressed his hands over his eyes and be- 
gan to weep bitterly. Uncle Brasig stood 
and looked at him compassionately, and 
going up to him with the most tender pity 
took him by the shoulder, and shook him 
gently, saying : 

“ We all wander, here, in confusion, and 
you are greatly to blame for your misfor- 
tunes ; but the fault is not wholly yours ; 
what possessed your blessed Frau Mother 
to make a lieutenant of you ? How could a 
farmer be made out of a lieutenant ? It 
is just as if the musician, David Berger, 
who has blown half his breath out of his 
body with his trumpet, should set up to 
be pastor, and preach preach with his 
half-breath; he couldn’t hold out. But” 

— and he took the young man by the arm, 

— “ come away from this place, and then 
you will feel better.” 

“ Yes, yes ! ” cried Axel, “ you are right ! 
All my misfortunes arose from this un- 
blessed soldier career. I got in debt 
there, and these first debts brought others 
in their train. But,” he added, standing 
still, “ what shall I say to my wife ? ” 

“ Nothing at all,” said Brasig. 

“ No,” said Axel, “ I have solemnly re- 
solved to tell her the whole truth, hence- 
forth.” 

“Do you think the young gracious Frau 
will be likely to ask you — right to your 
face — why you didn’t shoot yourself this 
morning ? If you should get into any 
difficulty about it, I will tell fibs for you, I 
should not mind doing it ; for it would be 
too horrible that such a dear young Frau 
should carry the thought with her, 
through her whole life, that the husband 
who should have cared for her was ready 
to leave her and her child, like a coward. 
No ! ” he added firmly, “ she must not 
know it ; no one need know it, but you and 
I. And make yourself easy, she is still 
asleep, for she could not have gone to 
bed before morning, and she- must have 
been dreadfully tired.” 

They came back to Pumpelhagen, and 
met Daniel Sadenwater in the hall. 

“ Daniel,” said Brasig, “ let us have a 
little breakfast, as soon as possible. For,” 
he added, when Daniel was gone, “you 
must eat a little something, so as to have 
a different feeling in your stomach, for 
such things take away a man’s strength.” 
Did he speak entirely from benevolence, 
ora little from self-love? For when the 
breakfast came, Axel ate nothing, but he 
ate like a thresher. 

About ten o’clock, Frida came into the 
room, and exclaimed : 


“ Herr Inspector ! and you, Axel ? ” 

“Yes, dear Frida. I got home this 
morning,” said the young man in a low 
voice. 

“ And now you will not go away again, 
now you will stay here,” said Frida, de- 
cidedly. “ Ah, Axel, I have much to tell 
you, — good news. But how do you and 
the Herr Inspector happen to be to- 
gether ? ” 

Now, thought Uncle Brasig, it is time to 
keep my promise about fibbing. “ I went 
out for a little fishing, this morning, — you 
will not take it ill, gracious Frau, that I 
have left my fishing-rod in your hall, — 
and I met the Herr von Rainbow, who was 
out walking, and we looked at his wheat 
together, and he invited me here to break- 
fast. But, gracious Frau, what fine sau- 
sage ! you must surely have got the recipe 
from Frau Nussler.” 

“No,” said Frida, absently, looking at 
Brasig and at Axel, as if it seemed very 
strange to her that Axel should have in- 
vited the old inspector. “ How did it hap- 
pen, Herr Inspector,” she began. Hold ! 
thought Brasig, you will fib yourself into 
a trap, you must give another turn to the 
conversation, so he interrupted : 

“With your leave, gracious Frau, you 
always call me 4 inspector,’ and so I have 
been ; but I have been promoted, I am now 
assessor at the court. Apohpoh ! ” turn- 
ing to Axel, “why don’t you take your 
money, that lies ready for you at the court, 
in Rahnstadt ? ” 

“ What money ? ” inquired Axel. 

“ Why, the fifteen hundred thalers, that 
the baggage hadn’t spent. You must have 
had a letter about it, several weeks ago, 
from the court.” 

“ I have had so many letters from the 
court, of late, that I no longer open 
them.” 

“ I know about the business,” cried 
Frida. “ Frau Nussler told me, on the 
way. I will get the letter,” and she ran 
out of the door. 

“ Young Herr von Rambow,” said Bra- 
sig, drawing himself up, “ there you have 
done wrong again, for we judges are not 
only the punishers of mankind, we are 
also the benefactors of mankind.” 

“ But do tell me what money it is ! ” 

“ Here is the letter,” said Frida, giving 
it to her husband. 

Axel opened it, and with what feelings ! 
“ Money, money ! ” had so long been the 
cry of his soul, always “ Money ! ” Now 
this sum of money fell unexpectedly into 
his lap, but what money ! “ Oh, my God ! ” 

he cried, staggering blindly about the 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


room, like a sleep-walker, “ then that was 
not true either ! All of it false ! In whose 
hands have I been? Deceived in every- 
thing, — self-deceived ! Bitterly self-de- 
ceived ! ” 

He rushed out of the door, Frida would 
have followed him, but Br'asig held her 
back. “Let me go, gracious Frau! I 
know a way to quiet him.” He followed 
him to the garden, where he was raging 
up and down ; the old man placed himself 
in the way : 

“ Herr, what sort of performances are 
these ? ” 

“ Get out of my way ! ” cried Axel. 

“ No,” said Briisig,” there is no necessity 
for it. Aren’t you ashamed, to frighten 
your wife to death with your wild behav- 
ior ? ” 

“ Why did you not let me destroy my- 
self?” cried Axel; “this is a thousand 
times worse than death ! To receive bene- 
fits, and such benefits, from people, whom 
in better times I have despised and slan- 
dered, yes, even ruined ! Not merely to 
receive, — no ! — if one will live, — to be 
obliged to receive it ! Oh, oh ! ” he cried, 
striking his forehead, “ why should I live ? 
How can I live, with this sting in my 
heart ? ” 

So he raged against himself and the 
world, and Uncle Br'asig stood by quietly 
and looked at him. At last he said, “ Go 
on like that a little longer; that pleases 
me uncommonly ; the old nobleman’s hu- 
mor must work itself out. What ? 
You will have no friendship with honest, 
burgher people ? Isn’t it so ? If the 
Herr Vons should come, or even the Po- 
muchelskopps and Slusuhrs and Davids, so 
that nobody need know of it, that would 
be more agreeable to you ; but they won’t 
come any more. But that is only a sec- 
ondary matter ; you ought to be ashamed 
that, under the eye of God, who delivered 
you this morning, you have again expressed 
the wish that you had shoi yourself. Why, 
you are a double suicide ! ” 

Axel was silent, and turned pale; he 
trembled, as he thought of the abyss Into 
which he had looked that morning; Br'asig 
took his arm and seated him on the bench, 
where his old father and his young wife 
had sat, in their anguish and distress. 
Gradually he recovered himself, and Zach- 
ary Briisig took him again by the arm: 
“Come! come to your gracious Frau! 
That is the best place for you now,” and 
Axel followed like a lamb, and when his dear 
young wife took him in her arms, and drew 
him down by her on the sofa, and com- 
forted him, then the hot tears started from 


285 

his eyes, the last ice was broken up, and 
under the warmth of her lovely, spring 
sunshine his whole soul flowed out, open 
and free, — still in swelling waves, but free. 
And Zachary Briisig stood at the window, 
and drummed the old Dessauar, so that 
Fritz Triddelsitz, who was passing by, came 
up and asked, “Herr Inspector, do you 
want me ? ” 

“No ! ” growled Bra jig, “go about your 
business, and attend to your farming.” 

A carriage drove up, and Haber man n 
and Franz got out of it. Franz had gone 
with Habermann, about nine o’clock, to 
see Moses, and had told him that, instead 
of the other good people, he would pay the 
thirty-one thousand for his cousin, and 
Moses kept nodding his head, and said, 
“ You are good ; the others are good, too ; 
but you are rich ; better is better.” 

When the business was settled, and 
Franz had gone a little way along the 
street with Habermann, he said, “ Dear 
father, sit down here a moment, on 
this bench , I will come back direct- 
ly, I have forgotten something I wanted 
to speak to Moses 1 about.” And when he 
went back to Moses he said, “ My father- 
in-law, Habermann, told me, this morn- 
ing, that Pomuchelskopp wants to sell 
Gurlitz.” 

“ Wonder of wonders ! ” cried Moses, 
“ Habermann, father-in-law ! What does 
it mean ? ” 

“ I am going to marry his daughter.” 

The old Jew rose painfully from his 
chair, and laid his withered hand on the 
young head of the Christian nobleman : 

“ The God of Abraham bless you ! You 
marry into a good family.” 

And after a little, Franz said, “Buy 
it for me, transact the business for me, 
but my name must not be mentioned, 
arid no one — especially Habermann — 
is to know anything about it. At St. 
John’s, I can raise a hundred thousand 
thalers.” 

“ But how high shall I go ? ” 

“ I leave that to you ; but inquire about 
it to-day. I will come again to-morrow, 
and we can talk it over.” 

“ Well,” said Moses, “ this is business, 
this is honest business. Why shouldn’t I 
do a little business ? ” 

Franz left him. 

When Axel saw the two getting out of 
the carriage, he tried to control himself, 
and to conceal his agitation, but in vain. 
Too wild a flood was rushing through his 
soul, the green leaves were torn and scat- 
tered, and branches and limbs of trees 
floated down the current ; Frida and Brii- 


286 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


sig interposed ; and when he was rushing 
towards Habermann impulsively, Frida 
held him back, saying, “ Axel, dear Axel, 
not now ! To-morrow, the day after, any 
time ! You can always find him.” 

And Habermann took his hat, and said 
he had a message from Fritz Triddelsitz’s 
father, and went out. Franz went up to 
Axel, and embraced him, and said, “ Come 
into the other room, Axel, I have much to 
say to you.” 

And when they had been there awhile, 
Franz looked in at the door, and called 
Frida. And, a while after, Daniel Saden- 
water ran out into the yard, to look for 
the Herr Inspector Habermann, and as he 
passed in, before Briisig’s eyes, Brasig be- 
gan to find it lonely in the room, and he 
went out into the garden, and placed him- 
self on a little elevation, and looked over 
to the Rexow firs, and the Lauban pond, 
thinking his own thoughts, and they 
began in this wise : “ Remarkable ! 

What is life, what is human life V ” and 
when his thoughts had lasted about an 
hour and a half, and he had snapped at in- 
numerable flies, they at last broke out into 
words : “ I wish one could get something 
to eat, by and by, and then a quiet place, 
to recreate one’s self a little ! ’’ 

And his wish was granted, for Daniel 
came and called him, and when he entered 
the room Habermann stood by Axel, hold- 
ing his hand, and Franz was rubbing his 
hands, and looking at the dinner-table, 
and he came up to Brasig, saying, “ Herr 
Inspector, we have good appetites to-day ! ” 
And Frida stood there, with the sweetest 
smile, and the most blessed content in her 
face, and said : 

“ Herr Inspector, — Herr Assessor, I 
would say, — when we first came to Pum- 
pelhagen, you were my neighbor at table, 
now that we are going away, you must be 
so once more.” 

“ Going away ? ” 

“ Yes, old friend,” said Habermann, 
“ you are a Jack of all trades, and know 
all that is going on ; but you never 
thought of this : the Herr von Rambow 
has exchanged with Franz, he takes Hogen 
Selchow, and Franz, Pumpelhagen.” 

“ That is a good arrangement, Karl, and 
if you crack your jokes on me, because I 
knew nothing about it, I knew, at least, 
several years ago, that the Herr von Ram- 
bow, who was your pupil, would come to 
something.” And he went up to Franz, 
and shook his hand heartily. 

After dinner, many things were talked 
over, and every one conld perceive, by 
Axel’s demeanor, how much lighter his 


heart was, now that he was no longer in- 
debted to these people, but only to his 
cousin ; and in this better mood, he agreed 
to everything, promised to let the inspect- 
or manage the estate, and to give Franz 
proper security. 

Our story rapidly approaches its con- 
clusion. After a week or so, Moses came 
to terms with Pomuchelskopp, for Gur- 
litz. It was sold for a hundred aud nine- 
ty-two thousand thalers. From Moses, 
Franz went straight to Schultz, the car- 
penter : 

“ Herr Schultz, can you hold your 
tongue ? ” 

“ Trust me for that.” 

“Well, — I am now owner of Pumpel- 
hagen ; send some of your people out 
there, and let them tear down the pad- 
docks you built yonder.” 

“I have thought, all along, that the 
beasts would have a short life.” 

“Well; I am also, after St. John’s, the 
owner of Gurlitz.” 

“ See, see ! So with Herr Pomuchels- 
kopp too, it is at last : ‘ Out ! out ! ’ ” 

“ Yes, ; but now listen to me. I want 
to have a pastor’s-widow-house built there, 
and it must be planned exactly like the 
parsonage, and stand just opposite, close 
by the church-yard. You can take the 
measure to-morrow.” 

“ No need of that, I have two measures 
already, one of my own, and one that 
Mamselle Habermann took, with her apron- 
strings and cap-ribbons.” 

“ Good,” said Franz, and a merry smile 
overspread his face, “ use that one.” 

“ But it wasn't right.” 

“No matter! You must build after 
that measure. Buy your needful timber 
to-morrow, engage carriers here in Rahn- 
stadt, and a good master mason ; but be- 
fore all things, don’t breathe a word of it 
to anybody! If you want money, apply 
to Moses.” 

He went off, and old carpenter Schultz 
stood in the door, looking after him. 

“ Noblemen, noblemen ! Crazy perform- 
ances ! Cap - ribbons ! Apron - strings ! 
But Pomuchelskopp out ! out ! Isn’t that 
good news ? ” 

Franz went to Hogen Selchow ; Haber- 
mann and Inspector Bremer, who had been 
engaged for Axel, went with him. Axel 
departed, with bag and baggage, and the 
burgomeister from Rahnstadt came in, to 
superintend the transfer of the property, 
and with him Brasig, as assessor. Three 
weeks were taken up in this business, and 
in the repairs and refurnishing of Pumpel- 
‘ hagen ; then all was arranged to satisfac* 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


tion. The Frau Pastorin, also, had com- 
leted the preparations for the wedding, 
shall write about this wedding, exactly 
as it was ; it passed over very quietly, and 
I shall quietly pass it over. 

The day after the wedding, Louise and 
Franz, and the Frau Pastorin and Haber- 
mann, sat in a great coach, and Br'asig was 
on the box, and they drove to Pumpelha- 
gen. As they passed through Gurlitz, 
there was a great display of fir boards and 
beams, and oaken sills, and a notched beam 
lay all ready, on one side, and the carpen- 
ter, Schultz, stood there, in his shirt sleeves, 
superintending his workmen. Franz 
stopped the carriage, and called out to the 
energetic old man, “Is everything ready, 
Herr Schultz ? ” 

“ Everything is ready.” 

“ Then you may speak, Herr Schultz.” 

“ All right 1 ” said Schultz. “ But, 

Mamselle Hab 1 should say, gracious 

Frau, what trouble you have cost me ! 
When I thought I had it, I hadn't it by a 
long way. I shall have to put in another 
notched beam.” 

“ What ? ” asked Louise, and looked at 
Franz. 

“ Only this, dear child,” said Franz, put- 
ting his arm around her, “ that I have 
bought Gurlitz, and am going to build a 
pastor’s-widow-house here, just like the 
parsonage.” 

“For me? ” cried the little Frau Pasto- 
rin, and the tears which had risen to her 
eyes, when she looked at the church-yard 
where her Pastor slept, flowed freely, and 
she grasped his hand, and bathed it with 
tears of joy, for the tears which start in 
sadness often change to tears of joy. 

“ And I thought,” continued Franz, “ that 
my father-in-law and Br'asig might live 
with you, as they have done. And I 
thought, father, you could undertake the 
management of Gurlitz, and you and Bra- 
sig could also have an eye to Pumpelhagen, 
and see if it is managed properly.” 

“ Just the thing ! ” cried Br'asig, from the 
box, who had heard . everything because 
the front was down, “ Karl, what did I say 
to you? He’ll do!” 

Habermann’s eyes glistened with joy. 
To have occupation and responsibility 
again ! to be active and useful ! Louise 
threw herself upon her husband’s breast: 
“Franz, what a dear, dear fellow you 
are ! ” And the carriage drove on, and 
arrived at Pumpelhagen. No triumphal 
arches this time, — but in every heart was 
erected a triumphal arch, to the glory of 
the Heavenly Father ! 

I have now finished my story, and might 


287 

as well make an end of it ; but I know 
how it is : many people would like to be 
informed of what has happened to our 
friends during the eighteen years since 
1818, and so I will write one more chapter. 

CHAPTER XL VII. 

CONCLUSION. 

A year ago, before I moved from Meck- 
lenburg to Thuringia, I visited the old 
chimney-corner once more, where I had 
spent so many happy days in my youth ; 
and so I came to Rahnstadt, and went from 
there one afternoon, in the month of June, 
along the road to Gurlitz. 

I intended to visit Habermann and Bra- 
sig and the Frau Pastorin, whom I had 
known since the time I was an apprentice, 
and had often visited in Rahnstadt ; I had 
known Gottlieb too, at first in his Pietist 
days, and, — strangely, — we came to be 
very good friends, although we held quite 
different opinions; probably because I was 
a very sedate youth, and Gottlieb liked me 
on that account. 

When I arrived at Gurlitz, I went up to 
the widow-house, and took hold of the 
handle of the door; the door was fast. 
“ Hm ! ” said I to myself, “ it is Sunday 
afternoon, it is hot, they have all gone to 
sleep.” I went to the window, and raised 
myself on tiptoe, to look in ; when a voice 
behind me said : 

“ Eh, Herr, that will do you no good ; 
there is nobody there.” 

“ Doesn’t the Frau Pastorin live here ? ” 

“ She is dead.” 

“ And Habermann ? ” I inquired. 

“ He has moved to Pumpelhagen, to live 
with the gracious Frau.” 

“ Is the Herr Pastor at home ? ” 

“ Yes, he is at home,” said old Jura, for 
it was he, “yes, he is at home, and the 
Frau Pastorin too ; they are just drinking 
coffee.” 

I went to the house and knocked at the 
door. “ Come in ! ” cried a rich voice. I 
entered, — well, in the course of my life, I 
have met with a great deal that I could 
not explain, and some things that were 
very surprising, — but this time I was not 
merely surprised, I was really startled ! 
There sat Gottlieb, his haircut very rea- 
sonably short, and instead of resembling 
the hollow of Frau Niissler’s baking trough 
his form was more like the incre sing 
moon; the white, sunken cheeks had be- 
come smooth and ruddy, and the red, full 
lips seemed to say, “ We have had a good 
dinner to-day, but we and the stout teeth 
behind us have done our duty.” And that 


288 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


was the expression of the whole man, one 
that enjoyed good dinners, and yet did his 
duty. There was nothing lazy about his 
looks, all was firm and clean, and told of 
hard work, and refreshing rest, and com- 
fortable meals. Well, and now ! Of the 
Frau Pastorin Lining there was no trace, 
she had changed into the exact image of 
the little, round Frau Pastorin Behrends. 
“ Hm ! ” said I to myself, “ the wind sits 
fair in this quarter.” 

When the first greetings were over, we 
sat down together, and there were many 
questions to ask, especially on my side. 
The story that I have related I had mostly 
from Brasig ; Habermann also would let a 
word fall,, now and then, for I was rather 
a favourite with the old man, and some 
things I inquired about elsewhere, a little 
later, and because the principal events oc- 
curred while I was apprenticed on an es- 
tate, I have called it, “ During my appren- 
ticeship.” 

Gottlieb told me various things, and 
Frau Pastorin Lining helped him, for she 
was constantly interrupting ; and when I 
rose, to go to Pumpelhagen, — for I had 
known Franz also, when I was apprenticed 
in the region, — Gottlieb said, “ Yes, go ! 
You will find them all together, there ; we 
will come by and by, and bring our three 
children ; the oldest is absent, he is al- 
ready at the gymnasium.” I went through 
the Gurlitz church-yard, thinking over 
what I had heard, and it was just what is 
always happening on this earth; joy and 
sorrow, birth and death. 

The first of our friends who had de- 
ceased was Bauschan. He did not die a 
natural death, — not that he committed 
suicide — no ! One day weaver Ruhrdanz 
came into the Rexow farm-yard, with a 
rusty flint-lock, took Bauschan by the col- 
lar, and led him into the garden ; the new 
crown-prince was there as a spectator, 
and — as appeared afterwards — behaved 
very badly upon the occasion, rushing 
about, and growling. A shot was heard, 
and soon after Ruhrdanz came in, and re- 
ported that Bauschan had made a very 
Christian end. Frau Nussler poured him 
a glass of schnapps, and when he had 
drank it, very gravely, he said that he and 
the other Gurlitz people had been before 
the court that morning; they were all sen- 
tenced to a year’s imprisonment, and be- 
cause he was the head one, or the ring- 
leader, as they called it, he must have six 
months longer. He went out, but came 
back to say : “Frau, you will not forget 
my old woman ! It all happened because 
we had no papers.” 


The second who died was Jochen him- 
self. Since the time that he had given up 
the control, he had taken to managing ; 
he ran about the fields all day, especially 
in places where there was nothing to do, 
and would stand there, shaking his head, 
but saying nothing. And one Sunday, be- 
tween Christmas and New-Year’s, when 
the snow lay a foot deep over the fields, he 
was out and happened to fall into a ditch. 
He came home quite chilled ; Frau Nussler 
gave him camomile tea, by the quart ; he 
drank it submissively, but next morning 
he said, “ Mother, what is not to be helped, 
is not. What must be, must. It is all as 
true as leather, and one can do nothing 
more about it,” and with that, he fell 
asleep. He had managed himself to 
death, and Frau Nussler thought seriously 
of inscribing on his tombstone : 

“ He died in his vocation.” 

Moses was the next ; the old man had 
walked firm and upright through life, an d 
firm and upright he went out of it. He 
died firm in his faith, and they did for him 
according to the customs of the tribe of 
Judah, — for he belonged to the tribe of Ju- 
dah, — and when he was buried David sat 
in the ashes, with a torn coat, and many 
Christians followed him to the church-yard 
around which he had built the oaken 
fence, and I believe he is in Abraham’s 
bosom, where Christians are also received. 
And the day after his funeral, there 
were three people standing at his grave, 
namely, Habermann, and the two young 
Fraus von Rainbow, — Frida was come for 
a visit, — and Habermann wiped his old 
eyes, and the two young Fraus laid a 
couple of fresh wreaths on the grave of 
the old Jew, and, as they walked thought- 
fully away through the Rahnstadt mead- 
ows, Habermann said, “He was a Jew in 
faith, and a Christian in deeds.” 

And now comes Hauning’s turn — our 
brave old Hauning. Pomuchelskopp had 
gone off, neck and crop, bag and baggage, 
in the blue coach with the coat of arms, 
and with as many furniture wagons as he 
had fat sheep, to Rostock. When times 
got a little better for credit, he earned 
himself a nickname, they called him, 

“ Much too cheap ! ” for he related his 
story to every one who would listen to 
him, and lamented his hard fate, and the 
sale of Gurlitz, and always ended with a 
deep sigh, “ Much too cheap ! Oh, very 
much too cheap ! ” 

His brave Hauning pursued her course 
unterrified, and kept up her authority; 
but, dear knows, what a time she had with 


SEED-TIME A 

those Rostock maid-servants 1 They would 
not put up with such treatment as the 
Gurlitzers were compelled to endure. 
Every week, she had a new maid; one, 
indeed, behaved more reasonably, that 
was an old cook; but when she had been 
there about three months, this worthless 
creature became refractory. Hauning was 
very decided, she caught up the fire-tongs, 
and gave her a hard blow on the head. 
The girl hadn’t another word to say, for 
she fell flat on the kitchen hearth. A doc- 
tor came and talked a great deal about 
suggillations and fractures ; but the end 
of the story was, the poor girl was taken 
to the hospital. The doctor was an hon- 
est man, he reported the matter to the 
rightful authorities, and Hauning was 
summoned before the court. If she had 
made use of a pudding-stick, of the same 
length and thickness, they would have 
done nothing to her ; but, in her valor, 
she had seized the tongs 1 Tongs were not 
down in the Mecklenburg statutes, and so 
Hauning was condemned, besides the costs, 
and what she must give the poor girl, to 
six weeks’ imprisonment. Pomuchel pro- 
tested, he appealed, he supplicated ; it was 
of no use; Hauning was imprisoned on 
account of her great valor. He told his 
story to every one who would listen, he 
poured out streams of abusive talk about 
the court ; at last, one of the judges hap- 
pened to hear of it, and the chancellor 
made Pomuchel a present of four weeks’ 
imprisonment, for himself. He tried to 
buy off, with money ; but it was no go ; 
even the Herr Senator Bank said, “ No 1 
this time the poltroon should be served 
out.” And so those two old brave people 
were confined in adjoining rooms, over 
Christmas, 1852, and New Year’s, 1853 ; 
and when they had been there a fortnight 
the jailer remarked to his wife : “ Fika, there 
is quite a difference between the two ; he 
runs about his room as if he were crazy, 
berating everybody, and she sits there, 
stiff and stark, in the same place, where she 
sat down the first evening.” 

Malchen and Salchen, meanwhile, to the 
great distress of their elders, gave a great 
tea-party, to which Herr Siissmann was 
invited, as he had, merely out of compas- 
sion, accepted a situation in the Mahlen- 
strasse. 

When our old friends were set free, 
Pomuchelskopp sat down in the living 
room, and bewailed himself to his daugh- 
ters. Hauning went straight to the kitch- 
en, and there found a day-laborer’s wife ; 
for, during their imprisonment, there had 
been a great excitement, and the Rostock 


tfD harvest. 289 

maid-servants had resolved that no re- 
spectable girl should go into service at the 
Pomuchelskopps. So they hired this wo- 
man by the day. 

“ What do you get a day ? ” asked 
Hauning. 

“ Sixteen groschen,” was the reply. 
Hauning grasped the tongs, but bethought 
herself in time. But this self-control 
made the gall overflow into her blood, 
and three days after she was dead; and 
in three days more she was buried. 
Pomuchelskopp and his daughters do not 
know where she lies, and if any one ini- 
quires, they say, “ She is buried over 
yonder, — over yonder.” But Gustaving, 
who, in his capacity of inspector, often 
visits the city, knows. He took one of the 
little ones by the hand, and showed him 
the place : “ See, Krischaning, mother is 
buried there.” 

I have been telling of sorrow, and have 
yet more to relate ; but why not also of 
joy ? There was joy in the pastor’s-wid- 
ow-house, for long years. Frau Pastorin 
used to sit, on summer evenings, and look 
at her Pastor’s grave. Ah ! how glad she 
would be to die; and then, when Diirt 
brought the candles, she would turn round, 
and look at her old furniture, and the 
picture gallery, and the duster in its old 
place, and under the picture gallery, the 
two friendly old faces, which she had so 
often seen there in her Pastor’s time, and 
then, how glad she was to live ! Haber- 
mann was constantly active, no longer for 
strangers, but for his children and grand- 
children, for Louise had two of the dearest 
little girls ; and he had still another grati- 
fication. Fritz Triddelsitz walked in one 
day, — of course in a blue dress-coat, — 
with the little assessor, and introduced 
himself as a proprietor, in Lower Pomera- 
nia, and the little assessor as his bride; 
and when he had talked of various matters 
through the evening, and they had gone 
away, Brasig said, “Karl, this time you 
were right again ; but who would have 
thought it ? Your greyhound has become 
quite a reasonable being ; but don’t plume 
yourself too much upon it ; it is not your 
doing, it is the little assessor s.” 

Brasig himself scoured the whole region 
after news. Now he was in Rexow, then 
in Pumpelhagen, then in Rahnstadt, but 
his chief place of resort was Hogen Sel- 
chow. He journeyed thither, nearly every 
quarter, and when he came back he would 
say, “ Karl, it goes well ; he has quite 
given up the management, and now he 
sits in his work-shop, and invents. Stuff 
and nonsense, of course ; but Bremer says 


290 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


he would not ask for a better master, and 
the gracious Frau looks as happy and 
blessed as an angel in Paradise. Bat, 
Karl, he is not so stupid, after all. He 
has made one invention, that I am going 
to try, myself. You see, you take an old 
hat, cut out a hole in front, and put a lan- 
tern in, and when you are riding out, in 
the winter evenings, and have your lantern 
there, you can see, as if it were broad day- 
light.” 

Brasig actually brought Axel’s inven- 
tion into practice, and frightened all the 
Country people in the region; but once 
when he had visited Hogen Selchow, he 
had an attack of his old friend the Podagra, 
and the old friend kicked him in the 
stomach, with both feet, and on the way 
home, he took a severe cold. And so he 
lay on his death-bed. 

The Frau Pastorin and Frau Niissler 
and his old Karl Habermann were sitting 
by him, and the Frau Pastorin said, 
“ Dear Brasig, shall I not call in the young 
Herr Pastor V ” 

“ Let it go, Frau Pastorin, you have 
called me a heathen all my life ; it may 
not have been right for me to live as I 
have done ; but the pastor-business ! 
No, it is better so. And, Karl, my sister’s 
daughter, Lotting, is to have two thou- 
sand thalers; and the rest shall go to 
the school in Rahnstadt; for, Karl, the 
Frau Pastorin has enough to live on, and 
you have enough to live on, but the poor 
school-children are so badly off! And 
Frau Niissler has enough to live on, and 
my godchild, Mining, and you, Karl, and 
you are all going to live, and I am going to 
die.” And then his mind began to wan- 
der and he was once more in his early 
childhood, keeping sheep for his father, 
and an old ram made him a great deal of 
trouble, and he called to Frau Niissler to 
come and help him, and Frau Niissler sat 
down on the bed, and put her arras around 
him, and then he began about the three 
sweethearts, and Frau Niissler, and kept 
calling out that he had never loved any one 
but her, and Frau Niissler kissed the words 
from his lips, saying, “ I know it, Brasig, 
my dear, old Zachary, T know it.” 

And the fancies came thicker and faster, 
about the time when he was assessor at 
the court, and the indiciums, and the 
young Herr von Rambow, and the Lauban 
pond, and how he threw the pistol into the 
pond and lost four groschen on the wager. 
And then a strange lightness came over 
him, and he told his dear old Frau Niissler 
the most wonderful stories about the lit- 
tle twins, and his godchild, Mining, and 


Karl Habermann and Louise, — all inter- 
mingled with each other, — holding Frau 
Niissler’s hand fast in his all the while ; 
but suddenly he raised himself, and said, 
“ Frau Niissier, lay your hand on my head ; 
I have always loved you. Karl Haber- 
mann, rub my feet, they are cold.” Haber- 
mann did so, and a bright smile flashed 
across Br'asig’s face, and he said slowly, 
“I was always ahead of you in style.” 
That was the last. 

Our little Frau Pastorin soon followed 
him. There are a few people who live 
very happily on earth, and yet are glad to 
die. To these few belonged the little 
round Frau. She was very comfortable 
here below, but when she thought of the 
home above, a dear old face shown upon 
her, and old tones rang in her ears, for she 
thought of heaven as a little, neat, clean 
village church, where the angels sang and 
her pastor preached. Now she is with 
him, and can put on his mantle, and tie 
his bands, and sing with him, in the little ' 
church, no longer “ funeral hymns,” no I 
“ resurrection songs.” 

With these thoughts running through 
my head, I turned the corner near the ar- 
bor, where so many people had sat in 
their trouble and distress, and saw, playing 
on the lawn, three little maidens from four 
to eleven years of age. And, as I came 
nearer, I saw a lady with a friendly, con- 
tented expression in her face, and she 
dropped her work in her lap, and smiled 
at the little girls, and shook her finger at 
them : “ Don’t provoke me too far ! ” 

Near her, sat a fresh, healthy-looking man, 
reading the newspaper, and he laid it down 
and shook his head, as if he said, “ There 
is nothing in it.” And farther on sat an 
old man, at whose knee a little girl of 
twelve years was 1 aning, and chatting 
with him, and he interrupted her lively 
childish prattle, to say to the young Frau : 

“ Let them play, Louise, they will become 
steady and reasonable soon enough.” 
And as 1 came round the corner, the°old 
man exclaimed : “ Good heavens ! is not 

that ? ” And Franz and Louise came 

towards me, and Franz said, “ See ! see ! 
That is right, Fritz, to visit us once 
more ! ” 

“Many greetings, gracious Frau,” said 
I, “ from my Louise,” for my wife is a 
Louise too. And we talked of one thino- 
and another, but our quiet did not last 
long, for a troop came tearing through the 
garden, like the wild hunt, and four” bovs, 
with brown eyes, and brown cheeks, and 
gray jackets and trousers, scampered up 
the path, and a little rogue of six years 


SEED-TIME A: 

rushed up to Franz and clasped his knees, 
saying over his shoulder to the others, “ I 
am the first ! ” 

“ Yes,” said another, a boy of about 
twelve, “ I believe you, you ran through 
the meadow ; but how you look ! Mother 
will scold finely!” And now the little 
fellow looked down at his stockings and 
trousers, and, truly ! if his mother were 
contented with their condition, he would 
have reason to be thankful. 

“Are your father and mother cominor 
soon ? ” 

“ Yes,” said the eldest boy, “ they are 
close by. And grandmother is coming 
too, and Frau von Rainbow, who came 
yesterday.” 

“Ah, Frida?” cried Louise, “that is 
good ! ” And it was not long before Ru- 
dolph and Mining came up, and they looked 
like a fair day in summer, when the sun- 
light lies broad over the fields, and the 
shadows are short, and men are working 
in their shirt-sleeves. Rudolph has be- 
come a capable fellow who counts for 
something among his colleagues, for he 
does not carry on his farming in the old- 
fashioned, narrow ways, and has regard to 
the welfare of other people, and of the 
whole country, as well as to his own profit. 
And behind them came Frau Niissler, 
and Frida. The Frau von Rambow looked 
to the right, and the left, and her face 
grew sad, and when she came to the arbor 
and the first greetings were over, Louise 
called to her oldest daughter, “Frida, 
bring auntie a chair ! ” for Frida had 
once said, she could never sit again on 
that bench, where she had sat in such an- 
guish. 

Frau Niissler went up to Habermann : 

“ How are you, Brother Karl ? ” 

“ Finely ! ” cried Habermann, in a loud 
voice, for Frau Niissler had grown very 
hard of hearing, “ and you ? ” 

“ Very well, all but my hearing; that is 
worse. They say it comes from taking 
cold. Nonsense ! how should I take cold ? 

I will tell you, Karl, it came from Jochen ; 
for he talked and talked so much, at the 
last, and I was quite worn out. Well, he 
could not help it, it 'was in his nature.” 

Then came Pastor Gottlieb and Lining, 
with three children. And the children 
played together, and their elders talked 
together, and at supper time the tables 
were laid, out of doors, one for the older 
people by themselves, and one for the chil- 
dren by themselves, and Louise’s eldest 
daughter presided at the children’s table, 
and Grandfather Habermann at the other, 
and both with a very different rule from 


W HARVEST. 291 

our old Hiiuning. How friendly and pleas* 
ant it was ! 

And as we old subjects of Habermann 
were sitting together merrily, rejoicing in 
his government, who came along the 
garden path? Fritz Triddelsitz and the 
little assessor. What an uproar! How 
many questions were asked and answered, 
in a few moments ! 

All at once, Triddelsitz caught sight of 
me : “ Fritz, where did you come from ? ” 

“ Eh, Fritz where did you come from ? ” 

“ Fritz I haven’t seen you in seven cold 
winters ! ” 

“ Nor I you, Fritz.” 

So we “Fritzed” each other, back and 
forth, to the amusement of the whole com- 
pany. 

“ Fritz,” asked he, “ do you still write 
books ? ” 

“Yes, Fritz, I have written a whole 
heap of them.” 

“ Well, Fritz, do me a single favor, and 
never put me into any of them.” 

“ Eh ! ” said I, there’s no help for it ; 
you are in already, Fritz.” 

“ What am I in about ? ” he asked 
hastily. 

“ The rendezvous, at the great water- 
ditch.” 

“ What is that ? ” asked Louise, who sat 
opposite me. 

Franz laughed heartily : “ I will tell you, 
another time.” 

“ No, no ! ” cried Fritz. 

“ Why, what is it then ? ” asked the 
little assessor, looking at me, Fritz Reuter, 
and then at him, Fritz Triddelsitz. I was 
silent, and he said : 

“ I will tell you, another time.” 

Old Grandfather Habermann laughed 
with all his might. 

When we were by ourselves, afterwards, 
Fritz took my arm, and said : 

“ Just tell me, who told the story ? ” 

“ Brasig,” said I. 

“I thought so,” said he, “Brasig was 
the chief person in the whole story.” 

“ That he was,” paid I. 


Some people may ask the question, 
Where are Pumpelhagen and Rexow and 
Gurlitz ? Well, you will look in vain for 
them on the map, and yet they are situated 
in our German Fatherland, and I hope they 
are to be found in more places than one. 
Everywhere, where a nobleman resides, 
who does not think himself better than his 
fellow-men, and who recognizes the lowest 
of his laborers as his brother, and himself 
as a fellow-worker, — there is Pumpelha- 
gen. Wherever there is a clergyman, who 


292 


SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 


does not demand, in his self-conceit, that 
everybody shall believe precisely as he 
does, who makes no difference between 
poor and rich, who not only preaches, but 
is ready with kind words, and wise counsel, 
and substantial help, when it is needed, — 
there is Gurlitz. Wherever a burgher is 
active and energetic, and is driven by an 


impulse to become wiser and more capa- 
ble, and thinks more of the general wel- 
fare than of his own pecuniary advantage, 
— there is Rexow. And wherever these 
three are united, through the love of 
sweet womanhood, and the hopes of fresh, 
joyous childhood, there are, also, all three 
villages together. 


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CHAMBERS’S BOOK OF DAYS. 


NOW COMPLETED 

IN TWO VOLUMES ROYAL 8vo. 

Price per Set, Cloth, $9.00; Sheep, $10.00; Half Turkey, $11.00. 

THE BOOK OF DAYS : A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in connection with the Calen- 
dar, including Anecdote, Biography and History, Curiosities of Literature, and Oddities of 
Human Life and' Character. 


Edited under the supervision of ROBERT CHAMBERS, 


This work consists of 

I, Matters connected with the 
Church Calendar, including the Popular Fes- 
tivals, Saints’ Days, and other Holidays, with 
illustrations of Christian Antiquities in general. 

II, Phenomena connected with 

the Seasonal Changes. 

III, Folk - Lore of the United 
Kingdom : namely, Popular Notions and Ob- 
servances connected with Times and Seasons. 


IV. Notable Events, Biographies 
and Anecdotes connected with the Days of the 
Year. 

V. Articles of Popular Arclice- 
ology, of an entertaining character, tending to 
illustrate the progress of Civilization, Manners, 
Literature and Ideas in those kingdoms. 

VI. Curious, Fugitive and In- 

edited Pieces. 


The work is printed in a new, elegant and readable type, and illustrated with an abundance 
of Wood Engravings. For sale by booksellers generally, or sent free of charge on receipt of 

price by 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., Publishers, 

7 IS & 717 MARKET ST., PHILADELPHIA 


The most Charming Works of Fiction of the Present Day. 


THE WORKS OF E. MARLITT. 

1 ■ 


I. 


THE OLD IM^IMI’SELLE’S SEOBBT 

FROM THE GERMAN BY AIRS. A. Ii. WISTER. 


Eighth Edition . 12mo. Fine Cloth. $ld>0. 


A more charming story, and one which, having once 
commenced, it seemed more difficult to leave, we have not 
met with for many a day ."—The Round Table . 

“Is one of the most intense, concentrated, compact 
novels of the day. . . . And the work has the minute fidelity 


of the author of ‘The Initials,’ the dramatic unity of 
Reade, and the graphic power of George Eliot.”— Colum- 
bus (O.) Journal. 

“ Appears to be one of the most interesting stories that we 
have had from Europe for many a day ” — Boston Traveler. 


II 


GOLD ELSIE. 


FROM THE GERMAN BY MRS. A. L. WISTER. 


Sixth Edition. 12mo. Fine Cloth. $1.75. 


“A charming story charmingly told.” — Baltimore 
Gazette. 

“ We advise all to read it, as there are few romances of 
German life that equal it, and none that have been ren- 
dered into better English.” — Ohio Statesman. 

“ Is a tale of rare beauty and power. . . . There is more 
real healthful reading in this book than one often meets 
with in a novel.” — N. Y. Evening Post. 


“ ‘ Gold Elsie’ is one of the loveliest heroines ever in- 
troduced to the public.” — Boston Advertiser. 

“ Is told with an ease and a simplicity which at once cap- 
tivate the reader. We are mistaken if ‘ Gold Elsie’ does 
not become very popular.” — Erie Dispatch. 

' “ A charming book. It absorbs your attention from the 
title-page to the end.” — The Chicago Home Circle. 





COTJHTESS <3- 1 S E L _A_ . 

FROM THE GERMAN BY MRS. A. Ii. WISTER. 

Fifth Edition. 12rno. Fine Cloth. $1.75. 


“ There is more dramatic power in this than in any of the 
stories by the same author that we have read.” — N. O. 
Times. , 

“ It is a story that arouses the interest of the reader 
from the outset.” — Pittsburg Gazette. 

“ The best work by this author.” — Philada. Telegraph. 
** The author of * The Old Mam’selle’s Secret,’ one of the 


most charming stories ever written, has already won an 
extended reputation in this country as a faithful delineator 
of German life, and the present work will doubtless find 
many delighted readers.” — N. Y. Times. 

“ One of the very best of its class, and is a genuine re- 
presentation of court, burgher and rural life in Germany. 
The translation is spirited and faithful.” — Philada. Press. 


IV. 

O "V" E E 3T O IT L E E. 

FROM THE GERMAN BY MRS. B. ELGARD. 

Fourth Edition. 8vo. With full-page Illustration . Paper, 30 cents. 


*• • Over Yonder’ is a charming novelette. The ad- 
mirers of ‘ Old Mam’selle’s Secret’ will give it a glad re- 
ception, while those who are ignorant of the merits of this 


author will find in it a pleasant introduction to the works 
of a gifted writer.” — Daily Sentinel. 


V. 

MAGDALEFA. 


Together with “ THE LONELY ONES 99 by Paul Heyse, 

FROM THE GERMAN BY MRS. B. ELGARD. 


Third Edition. Svo. With two full-page Illustrations. Paper , 35 cents. 


“ Both of these stories are exceedingly clever and en- 
tertaining.” — Richmond Enquirer. 

“ Pa-J Heyse’s Lonely Ones’ is an idyll— a perfect ‘ little 
picture' in its way.” — Balt. Statesman. 

“ These two cnarming little stories are reprinted from 


Lippincotl's Magazine. Both of them are pretty and 
characteristic stories, one of German, the other of Italian 
life.” — Chicago Carrier. 

“There is a deep tragic interest in the story of ‘The 
Lonely Ones.’ ” — N. O. Picayune. 


For sale by Booksellers generally, or will be sent by mail, postage paid, on receipt of 

pnoe, by ^ ^ LIPPINCOTT & CO., Publishers, Philadelphia. 


THE WORKS OF WASHINGTON IRVING. 




*** The prices quoted below are for cloth bindings. The Sunnyside and Knickerbocker 
editions are issued in 12mo form, the Riverside and People’s editions in 16mo form. 




SEPARATE WORKS. 


IRVING’S ALHAMBRA. A Residence 

in the celebrated Moorish palace, the “Alhambra;" 
with the historical and romantic legends connected 
therewith. Sunnyside Edit., $2.25. Knickerbocker 
Edit., $2.50. Riverside Edit., $1.75. People’s 
Edit., $1.25. 

“The beautiful Spanish Sketch Book, the 'Alham- 
bra.'”— W. H. Prescott . 

IRVING’S ASTORIA; or, Anecdotes of 

an Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains. Sun- 
nyside Edit., $2.50. Knickerbocker Edit., $2.50. 
Riverside Edit., $ 2 . People’s Edit., $1.50. 

“ It is a book to put in your library as an entertain- 
ing, very well written account of savage life on a most 
extensive scale.” — Rev. Sydney Smith. 

IRVING’S BRACEBRIDGE HALL; 

or, The Humorists. Sunnyside Edit., $2.25. 
Knickerbocker Edit., $2.50. Riverside Edit., $1. 75. 
People’s Edit., $1.25. 

IRVING’S COLUMBUS. The Life and 

Voyages of Christopher Columbus; to which are 
added those of his Companions. Sunnyside Edit., 
3 vols., $6.75. Knickerbocker Edit., $7.50. River- 
side Edit., $5.25. People’s Edit., 3 vols., $3.75. 
“We venture to predict that the adventures of Co- 
lumbus will hereafter be read only in the work of Mr. 
Irving.” — Alexander H. Everett, in North A?nerican 
Review. 

“ The noblest monument to the memory of Colum- 
bus.” — IV. H. Prescott. 

“ It will supersede all other works on the subject, and 
never be itself superseded.” — Lord yeffrey. 

IRVING’S OLIVER GOLDSMITH. A 

Biography. Sunnyside Edit., $2.25. Knickerbocker 
Edit., $2.50. Riverside Edit., $1.75. People’s 
Edit., $1.25. 

“We have no hesitation in saying that in our judg- 
ment Washington Irving’s ' Life of Oliver Goldsmith’ is 
one of the best, the most entertaining, the most natural 
biographies written during the last three centuries.” — 
Knickerbocker Magazine. i 

IRVING’S SPANISH PAPERS. Hith- 
erto Unpublished or Uncollected. Arranged and 
edited by Pierre M. Irving, with portrait from Wil- 
kie. Sunnyside Edit., 2 vols., $4.50. Knicker- 
bocker Edit., $2.50. Riverside Edit., $1.75. Peo- 
ple’s Edit., $2.50. 

“ These fascinating legends of Spanish History.” — St. 
Paul Press. 

IRVING’S CHRONICLES OF THE 
CONQUEST OF GRANADA. From 

the MSS. of Fray Antonio Agapida. Sunnyside 
Edit., $2.50. Knickerbocker Edit., $2.50. River- 
side Edit., $ 2 . People’s Edit., $1.50. 

“ There is far too little known in this country of the 
history and character of the Spaniards, and this charm- 
ing work of Irving is well calculated to interest our 
people in the subject, and prompt to farther investiga- 
tions.” — New York Tribune. 

“ It has superseded all farther necessity for poetry, 
and, unfortunately for me, for history.” — IV. H. Prescott. 

IRVING’S MAHOMET AND HIS 
SUCCESSORS. 2 vols. Sunnyside Edit., 

$4.50. Knickerbocker Edit., $5. Riverside Edit., 
$3-50. People’s Edit., $2.50. 


IRVING’S CRAYON MISCELLANY. 

Sunnyside Edit., $2.25. Knickerbocker Edit., $2.50. 
Riverside Edit., $1.75. People’s Edit., $1.25. 

IRVING’S KNICKERBOCKER. A His- 
tory of New York from the beginning of the World 
to the end of the Dutch Dynasty, etc., etc. By 
Diedrich Knickerbocker. Sunnyside Edit., $2.25. 
Knickerbocker Edit., $2.50. Riverside Edit., $1.75. 
People’s Edit., $1.25. 

The same. With Characteristic Illustrations by 

Darley, in one large beautiful volume. 8vo. $9. 

“ The most excellently jocose ‘ History of New York.’ 
. . . Our sides have been absolutely sore with 

laughing.” — Sir Walter Scott. 

IRVING’S SALMAGUNDI; or, The 

Whim-Whams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, 
Esq., and Others. By Wm. Irving, James K. 
Paulding and Washington Irving. With a Preface 
and Notes by Evert A. Duyckinck. Sunnyside 
Edit., $2.25. Knickerbocker Edit., $2.50. River- 
side Edit, $1.7 5. People’s Edit., $1.25. 

“ Full of entertainment, with an infinite variety of 
characters and circumstances, and with that amiable, 
good-natured wit and pathos.” — R. H. Dana. 

IRVING’S SKETCH-BOOK. The Sketch- 

Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Sunnyside Edit., 

f 2.25. Knickerbocker Edit., $2.50. Riverside 

idit., $1.75. Blue-and-gold Edit., $1.50. People’s 
Edit., $1.25. [This edition is used as a School 
Reader.] 

■ The Artist’s Edition of the Sketch-Book. An 

entirely new impression, with twenty new and addi- 
tional vignettes, and is superbly printed and bound. 
Pronounced by good judges to be “ the finest Ameri- 
can book.” $10. 

“It is positively beautiful.” — Sir Walter Scott. 

“This exquisite miscellany.” — y. G. Lockhart. 

IRVING’S TALES OF A TRAVELER. 

Sunnyside Edit., i2mo, $2.25. Knickerbocker Edit., 
$2.50. Riverside Edit., i6mo, $1.75. People's 
Edit., $1.25. 

“ Has always been one of the most popular of Irving’s 
productions, and is not destined to lose the place it so 
soon acquired in the estimation of the world.” — Boston 
Traveler. 

IRVING’S WOLFERT’S ROOST, and 

other Papers, now first collected. Sunnyside Edit., 

^ 2.25. Knickerbocker Edit., $2.50. Riverside 

idit., $1.75. People’s Edit., $1.25. 

“ The papers in the present volume are among his 
latest and most charming productions.” — Chicago Tri- 
bune. 

IRVING’S WASHINGTON. A Life of 

George Washington, by Washington Irving. With 
numerous illustrations. In five volumes. Sunnyside 
Edit., $11.25. Knickerbocker Edit., $12.50. Riv- 
erside Edit., $8.75. People’s Edit., $6.25. 

“I cannot hesitate to predict for him a deathless re- 
nown. . . . He whose works were the delight 

of our fathers, and are still ours, will be read with the 
same pleasure by those who come after us.” — William 
Cullen Bryant. 

IRVING’S LIFE AND LETTERS. By 

P. M. Irving. With portrait from steel. Sunnyside 
Edit., 4 vols., $9. Knickerbocker Edit., 3 vols., 
$7.50. Riverside Edit., $5.25. People’s Edit., $3.75. 
“ The most delightful of biographies.” 


*** The above are also bound in a variety of handsome styles. 

For sale by Booksellers generally, or will be sent by mail, postage paid, upon receipt 
0 i nrice. by 

| B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., Publishers, 

715 AND 717 MARKET ST., PHILADELPHIA. 















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